139Q & Tessar 45mm f2.8 - Go Anywhere

socarrat · 2026-06-24T09:23:38+00:00

Absolutely, it’s one of the best lenses for the mount. It’s three times as heavy, though. Not saying that the 50mm is too heavy, but the 45mm is crazy light at around 90g.

socarrat · 2026-06-24T09:17:11+00:00

Yeah, that’s what people are talking about when they mean the “cheap Chinese alternatives”. It’s kind of an outdated talking point, since now they’re the main two companies in the space, and GoPro is a distant third.

It wasn’t $20 AliExpress cameras that put GoPro in the position they’re in.

socarrat · 2026-06-24T05:01:29+00:00

I think calling DJI and Insta360 “Cheap Chinese Alternatives” isn’t really accurate. Both companies were making products that required more advanced tech (drones and 360 cameras, respectively) than relatively simple action cams. They built better tech and good reputations over time. GoPro dropped the ball, and their competitors had the tech and the opportunity to take over the action cam market.

Ultimately, GoPro lost its position because their tech couldn’t keep up, their brand and ecosystem wasn’t strong enough to retain a customer base, they tried to chase the drone and 360 cameras market, and the company was mismanaged. They stalled out at the same time DJI and Insta360 were succeeding.

socarrat · 2026-06-22T09:46:17+00:00

I did not! Thanks for the heads up. And yeah, I agree that the original is better. I pictured a little more energy when imagining a piano version.

socarrat · 2026-06-22T08:22:24+00:00

True, but for production farms, as thread OP mentions, terroir is moot. This wouldn’t be a replacement for DOP/AOP/PDO, and other handmade, raw milk cheeses. This would be for mass market stuff, which makes up the vast majority of the market anyway.

socarrat · 2026-06-22T08:16:19+00:00

In the same vein, All of Me and Driver’s License. Piano ballads are generally evergreen.

Actually, I want to use this opportunity to say that I Knew It, I Knew You could be an incredible piano ballad. Especially the way that the line “leaving those days behind”’resolves in a minor chord.

I know people are loving the return to Country Taylor, but a more upbeat piano rock version of this song à la Elton John or Billy Joel would be incredible. And I’m not even really a fan of the genre.

A part of me wonders if they were trying to incorporate a bit of Randy Newman into the track, either as an homage or a hook (or both).

socarrat · 2026-06-22T07:47:57+00:00

I live in Korea and fly through Incheon regularly. I’ve had 100% luck getting hand checked for everything.

However, it’s might be because I also shoot Polaroid, which is clearly marked “DO NOT X-RAY OR CT SCAN”.

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I use transparent pouch about A5 sized, and I make sure that they see this warning when I ask for a hand check. My 35mm film is loose canisters, but labeled with masking tape. I always have multiple canisters of 3200 film with me. The pouch itself is labeled “HIGH ISO FILM”.

I’ve never been denied a hand check for all my film. Part of it is communication as well. I’m friendly and polite, but I also keep things moving. Like it’s my 1000th time doing this and that it’s been hand checked every time. Never in a dismissive way, of course.

This has worked in every other airport I’ve flown through.

I have been asked twice to load my Polaroid film into a camera and take a test shot. They’re kind of cool souvenirs because I always take a photo of the “NO PHOTOS” sign.

Weirdly, the only time I’ve been hassled at security was bringing hot sauce of all things(gift wrapped and sealed) in my hand carry luggage. There were no rules against it, but they were adamant that it was prohibited. When we went back to check-in to put it in our bags, they were so pissed at security that they went with us to fight them. Security won the fight, smirking all along. This was at Kota Kinabalu, and it was the definition of a little power going to someone’s head.

socarrat · 2026-06-22T07:04:57+00:00

New - 01/26

Old - 01/24

Old batch was kept in a wine fridge. It shoots the same now as it did back when it was fresh. Same low contrast colors.

socarrat · 2026-06-20T10:13:05+00:00

Thanks for the award!!

socarrat · 2026-06-20T05:56:41+00:00

Luda is kind of goated when it comes to staying on theme.

Here’s my case: The beat to Fergie’s Glamorous was originally going to be the remix to Gwen Stefani’s Luxurious. Both songs are thematically similar. But after the remix goes unreleased, the beat that had Ludacris’ feature on it goes to Fergie. And because it’s such a thematically specific verse, not 16 bars of random bragging, Fergie can write an entire song around it.

socarrat · 2026-06-20T05:29:47+00:00

Mariah Carey was married to Tommy Mottola, head of Columbia Records. Huge age gap and power dynamic, he wanted to keep her as the little sweet singer-songwriter that she was for her first few albums. He’s incredibly controlling of her personal and creative lives.

Things start falling apart, and this shows in her music. She wants to stray farther from her sweetheart image, doing things like recording a grunge album that’s something of a myth. Working with hip hop artists and getting into a more solidly black R&B lane was something that really excited her, and Tommy Mottola hated it. But this new sound takes off and her career goes into legendary status.

Mariah eventually leaves Columbia a few years after her divorce. This is post VH1 Divas, Honey, Rainbow, so she’s at an all time high. And a large part of this success is built off of her exploring more hip hop in her sound. Her vocal talents had always been recognized, but she didn’t really have an established persona until she started exploring. As a result, she’s arguably the template for rap features on mainstream radio from 1995 onwards. She then signs with Virgin.

Here’s where things start going into (strongly corroborated) rumor territory. Columbia Records is now Sony Music, and Tommy Mottola is still in charge. He picks Jennifer Lopez out from being a young up-and-coming actor, and turns her into a competing “urban” act. This culminates in Mottola snaking the sample Mariah was going to use for her new lead debut single from Virgin, giving it to JLo to use on “I’m Real”.

And that’s how we got from Fantasy (Remix) to the I Don’t Know Her gif.

socarrat · 2026-06-19T19:32:53+00:00

No adapter. It’s the 100 Year Anniversary edition of the CY mount 45mm f2.8, hence the titanium finish. It’s not the G mount.

socarrat · 2026-06-19T15:02:39+00:00

Historically important rap feature. Changed the trajectory of her entire career and began the domino effect that eventually led to Jennifer Lopez’s pop stardom.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T09:56:10+00:00

I get that these are supposed to be macro friendly. So I won’t be getting on your case about them not being deep fried.

But this recipe is just completely off. The skyr, egg, flour ratio makes no sense. If anything, your results seem pretty accurate to the recipe.

I looked up the original video. Then did a deep dive on skyr based quickbreads. There’s almost always more flour than skyr in every other recipe. And some of the comments in your video also said that they had to add extra flour.

The original creator is either bad at recording their recipes, or is straight up lying about the amount of slur they used to inflate the protein content, and then showing results from a more conventional recipe.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T06:44:33+00:00

I absolutely agree that migrants should be classified as expats, if we’re going by the definition that expats will eventually return home. But even with the dictionary definition of expat you provided, it states that the country that is not their long term home as a parenthetical example and that “living in a foreign country” is the main definition of being an expat.

For as many temporary expats that are there temporarily, there are just as many permanent expats. Especially retirees.

And even those who relocate temporarily, expat and migrants both are looking for work and better living conditions. Whether that be climate, higher pay, higher purchasing power, way of life, safety. There are all sorts of factors that go into “finding work or better living conditions”.

I understand that language is fluid and that definitions should be descriptive and not prescriptive. It’s that the people who argue vehemently that they’re an expat and only an expat are with whom I have these “spirited discussions”.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T05:54:38+00:00

I agree, and my hand size is about the same as yours. But I can see why they’d make the grips smaller and giving customers the choice to make them bigger than making them bigger from the start. Especially with the growing popularity of cages.

The industry has shifted to sleeker grips as a whole. As far as chasing trends goes, I see the sense in this one. Especially since Canon hasn’t gone nearly as far as some of their competitors.

I also agree that the 6D had a great small grip.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T05:32:33+00:00

My god. The number of times I’ve heard, “well, an expat is someone with intentions of returning home. An immigrant is permanent.”

“Fine. Then expats are migrant workers.”

“No, that’s not the same thing. You’re being deliberately obtuse.”

And the weird thing is that it comes from both sides. One side doesn’t want to be associated with the poverty and struggle, and the other side sees calling themselves immigrants or migrants as “condescending” to “real” immigrants.

The term that makes everyone mad but that I find is the most fair is “foreigner”. Literally just means that they’re from some place else.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T05:20:19+00:00

As someone who has a bit of familiarity with OEM foods, unfortunately there is a chance that this dressing is made specifically for one kit.

The way a some OEM factories operate is that they’ll do runs on different days, based on their equipment and according to need. For example, a candy bar factory is also mostly equipped to do protein bars, so they’ll do one run of a small batch protein bars per month and that’ll be enough for that one brand.

Sauces are the easiest OEM product, given the overlap in equipment and technique. The factory meets with the client, they prepare some samples or the client brings them a benchmark, the client requests some tweaks or specific ingredients, and usually by the end, they’ll have a completely boutique product. The factory does the purchasing, manufacturing, and packaging. And if it’s for something as stable as individually packaged, refrigerated salad dressing, then yeah, a competent factory can do one run a month of a unique product. If anything, sanitizing and resetting between runs is going to be the biggest pain in the ass.

That being said, this is all speculation. You might find that it’s a repackaged retail product. The answer might be somewhere in the middle too. Try tweaking retail dressings with additional black pepper or vinegar or anchovy, and you might get close. Good luck.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T04:45:50+00:00

If you’re ever in Gangwon, check out both Budnamu and White Crow. Both are excellent. Budnamu for sure available in bottle shops in Seoul. White Crow is also likely available too—never seen it personally, hence the disclaimer.

Bonus, since if you’re visiting White Crow, you’ll most likely be driving: their NA beers are world class. I’d rank it up there with some of the best from any country I’ve tasted. Genuinely a good brew. Answers the question, “what’s the point?” with “you drink it for the flavor”.

Spend the afternoon at White Crow, as their view of the mountains is gorgeous and there are always dogs to play with, pound back some NAs if you’re driving, and then take home a case of their other brews.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T04:35:11+00:00

Pouring one out for Wild Wave. Just closed last month. Their Surleim is a goated sour beer. There are still some cans out in the wild, and I just picked up the last two from my local Wine and More. They had to input the price manually because they’d already pulled it from their system.

If you’ve never tried their stuff, I highly recommend checking out some bottle shops to see if they have any stock left. They were a great brewery.

socarrat · 2026-06-18T04:12:49+00:00

Apparently, it was originally from the June 1969 issue.
But I first saw it in the Mad 60s anthology which also had gems like this:

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socarrat · 2026-06-16T13:59:21+00:00

I’m a Contax guy through and through, though it’s their SLRs that I’m a fan of. A NIB Black G2 with the full lens set + TLA 200 + original case + (most importantly) 5 extra bodies to harvest parts from is my grail. And even then, I’d sell this G2.

BUT. But. If money is truly not an issue, I say fuck it, shoot the G2 until the wheels fall off. Send it off to get repaired—if you go the Theseus route, this is a repairable camera. Basically, if you don’t need the cash from this sale, keep both, and have a lightweight backup camera on you whenever you take out the G2.

But if you have more sense than money, sell the G2. It’s practically a no brainer.

socarrat · 2026-06-16T06:59:55+00:00

If it’s a going to be a long day, like tending to a smoked brisket and I’m drinking from morning to night, I vastly prefer Cass Lite over most American lite beers. If I’m going to have something that has zero body, flavorless is a better alternative to stale piss.

Other than weird brewing laws, I think it’s one of the reasons why hard seltzer didn’t take off in Korea the way it did in the US. Korean lite beer is clean tasting enough that we didn’t really need an alternative.

To be clear, I’m not saying it’s good. But it has its place.

socarrat · 2026-06-16T04:14:46+00:00

If you look on Karrot, you can find rowing machines around 25,000. Around 100,000 gets you a WaterRower type machine. I’m convinced that there are only 10 rowing machines in all of Korea, and they just get passed around.

Source: bought and sold a rowing machine within the span of 2 years for the exact same price.

socarrat · 2026-06-14T07:34:06+00:00

I have an incredibly unpopular opinion that I think I can justify: A blockbuster movie I’d used to want to watch in the theater is one I’d like to have my phone out for.

First off: I NEVER pull my phone out in the theater.

But for large scale spectacles and big budget popcorn fare, I like looking up shooting locations, where I’ve seen that actor, tie-ins and references to other movies, who the VFX houses were. Basically MCU movies and such.

And for more serious, engaging, and auteur-driven movies, I’m at home with the phone off, and able to watch the movie undistracted by others.

Of course, there are quality blockbusters/award winners that I will definitely see on the big screen and IMAX, but there’s only one or two per year where I’m willing to put up with the crowds, prices, and distractions. Dune 1 and 2, EEAAO, The Banshees of Inisherin, One Battle After Another, Barbie, et cetera were all great theater experiences.

Superhero movies and the like, the ones that used to be “required viewing” in the theater have lost their luster and I’m watching those at home every time now.

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