Photos of Planet Cuba (Part III)

Sorry about the long break between posts....I tend to do that, don't I? The problem is that I like to fiddle with my pictures a lot - tweak the colors, adjust the exposure, etc. - and I also have to shrink them down for use on the web. I don't like to use watermarks, so I put them in a size that would make them hard to copy - ie: don't try to copy and print them because they'll end up looking like s**t . My photos deserve better than that, don't they? If you did that, you'd be breaking my copyright, and my heart. If you'd like to get any of these (or any other) photos from me, just contact me at  andonator2000@yahoo.ca and I'll get you a good price on the prints, and I can even offer custom framing and plaquemounting options as well.

So here's some more images from the amazing country of Cuba. If you haven't been there before, you have to go..... contact me if you want some advice on where to go and what to see. I'm by no means an expert, but I'd love to talk about it some more!

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The world famous Cuban Capitol in Havana - an exact replica of (but 6 inches higher than) the American Capitol building in Washington D.C.

Front steps of the Capitol building....

...and the view directly across the street.

The giant crab in Cardenas. This shot was taken out of the window of the tour bus. Not a good shot at all, but I included it here because I'm a sucker for giant animals and town mascots and things...

Along the Malecon drive in Havana

Trinidad, Cuba - about 4 hours by bus from Varadero

Jose Marti (Cuban National Hero), and some Cuban guy posing in front of the statue

"Official" Cuban Taxi

Apartment building in downtown Havana (they don't all look like this...)

Statue on the facade of the Gran Teatro in Havana

The one-time Guiness World Record holder for the world's longest cigar. Apparently, the current record holder is also in Havana and is over 30 metres long!

And I thought that Winnipeg buses got crowded!

This tree marks the exact spot where the city of Havana was founded

Here are a couple of shots of the beautiful Cuban landscape

As you can see, even Spidey had a nice relaxing time on his Cuban vacation...

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Well, that's it for photos of Cuba - for now. I hope that you've enjoyed them. In case anyone out there cares, almost all of these shots were taken with a Pentax k200d digital SLR, with either the Sigma 24-60 f2.8 or the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 lenses. Again, any of these images are available for purchase through this blog. Just contact me for pricing and I'll get them to you ASAP.

Hasta la vista!

May the Force be with you...

Photos of Planet Cuba (Part II)

What can I say? It truly was like being on another planet to me.....everything is so different from Canada. Different, but strangely parallel...and cool... Yeah, it's a socialist country, and that scares a lot of people, but we won't get into any kind of political rant here. There are a lot of reasons why it is how it is, and the land is incredibly rich with culture and history, if not with dollars per capita. Cuba is an awesome place to visit....I wish we could go every year. Our resort was great, everyone was super friendly, the weather was beautiful and everywhere around us were cool things to see and do. I will highly recommend a trip to Cuba to everyone I meet until the end of my days.

I just hope my photos do this highly fascinating place proper justice! I shot just shy of 1100 images in 8 days, and I found it hard to trim that number down and get rid of the pictures that didn't turn out so well (ie:out-of-focus shots, poorly exposed, etc.). Sometimes it's tough for me to let go of these photos, because even if they're crappy, I may never get a chance to go back and take that picture of that thing...in that place...at that time...and in that situation. Sounds heavy, doesn't it? Well, it's true. I had this kind of thing going through my head as I reluctantly deleted a blurry photo of a chicken a few minutes ago. "But it was a Cuban chicken! "

Anyway, here are more pictures from Planet Cuba....and don't worry, there'll be a chicken in there somewhere.

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Workin' Hard @ the Market in Varadero

Being a tropical island, there is no shortage of palm trees in Cuba...

And, for some reason, there is laundry hanging everywhere on the island...

Cuba is known for excellent cigars...

...old cars...

...and of course,  rum. (I really wish I could have taken this much home with me)

I should also mention that the beer is quite good as well...

(Notice the laundry hanging up there?)

These last few photos are from Revolution Square (well, not the coconut....)

And, last but not least, is the picture of the chicken that I promised you.

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I guess that's enough for today. I'll post Part III very soon. As I said, I have lots and lots of  images to sift through, so I might take some time. Until next time,

May the Force be with you....

Photos of Planet Cuba (Part I)

Buenos dias! Not much time for writing today, but before I get way too far behind in this blog, I want to share some of the of the fantastic photos that I shot during our 1-week getaway to Cuba. It was a delayed honeymoon/anniversary/birthday trip, taken earlier this month. Bobbie and I desperately needed a vacation, and she chose Cuba. Other than hooking up with me, it was the best idea she ever had! (lol)

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort in Varadero for the week but tried to get out and explore as much as possible, seeing as we'd never been to this country before. Let me just say that it was AWESOME! There are a million things to see and experience in Cuba, and we barely scratched the surface. Hopefully, the pictures will reflect some of the uniqueness and beauty of  Cuba - the landscape, the architechture, and most of all the people, who in my opinion are some of the friendliest and most genuine people in the world.

Please forgive the brevity of the text in this post - I'll have more details soon. I just couldn't wait to show off some photos. So, without further ado, here goes:

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Bobbie on the beach in Varadero

Me - with my official 5 peso tourist hat

Poolside @ Sol Sirenas Coral - our resort

In front of one of the municipal buildings in Varadero. The large picture is of Che Guevara - you see his face absolutely everywhere in Cuba.

Cuban Graffiti (I haven't figured out what it says yet, but it's all pretty patriotic)

Cuban Chicken (tastes like Canadian Chicken)

Local Farmer cutting sugar cane

Fresh Bananas (they tasted awesome)

Statue of Jose Marti (National Hero) in Cienfuegos

Near the Marina in Cienfuegos

Street Scene in Trinidad

Plaza Mayor in Trinidad

Street Dog (lots of these in Cuba)

Trinidad Skyline (everyone who's ever been here has this same photo)

The Malecon drive in Havana

El Morro Fortress, Havana

The Mojito - the best cocktail in Cuba, and maybe the world....

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I hope you enjoy these photos of Cuba - keep in mind that this is only part one, and this is not even 1/100th of the shots I came back with. I'll post a lot more later, and I promise to give a full description of the trip and all the cool things we saw and did. I guarantee it will be at least as exciting as watching your in-laws' fully narrated slide show from their trip to Thunder Bay. (I do have lots of pictures of Thunder Bay as well, if anyone is interested...)

Hasta la vista (until next time);

May the Force be with you...

Marvel Legends - Villains!!

The collection grows larger! I'm now at 9 Marvel Legends figures and counting:

Here they are in order of appearance :

-Thor (Giant-Man series)

-Beta Ray Bill (MODOK series)

-The Thing (Fantastic Four Wal-Mart Boxed Set)

-Loki (Onslaught series)

-Luke Cage (aka Power Man)(Mojo series)

-Sasquatch (Apocalypse series)

-Movie Spider Man (Sandman series)

-Green Goblin (Sinister Six Boxed Set)

-Kingpin (Face-Off series 1)

I also just got a 6`` Wonder Woman from the DC Classics series, but we`ll speak no further of her right now (she deserves her own post).

This post is all about the villains! Starting with:

The Green Goblin

Though he was never my favorite Marvel Comics bad guy, he`s the one that I probably knew first from his appearances in the 60`s animated Spider-Man series. Reruns of the show were on every weekday at lunchtime when I was a young kid in the 70`s. I remember that the Green Goblin creeped me out for the longest time way back then. I loved that show, and I loved the Goblin episodes the most. I also really liked the Fifth Dimension one with the crazy psychedelic landscapes and stuff, but Gobby was the best.

I don`t really have much to tell you about the Green Goblin that you wouldn`t already know or be able to deduce from the picture on the left - he`s bad, he has a definitive Halloween look going on complete with pumpkin bombs, and he flies through the air on a mechanical bat-shaped glider. His real name is Norman Osborn, and he doses himself with `Goblin-Gas`to make himself super-strong (and super psychotic). They summed him up pretty well in the 2002 Spider-Man movie, even though they changed the way he looked slightly. I guess he is a little bit silly-looking to begin with, but give the guy a break, he`s straight out of the 60`s.

This particular Green Goblin figure comes from the Sinister Six boxed set, and he`s supposed to come with a pumpkin bomb and a glider, but I bought him loose from a local store and only got the glider. With the selection of other toy accessories I have at my disposal, I don`t think this is a major problem. When it comes time to start photographing him, I`m sure he`ll be pre-occupied with other stuff. He`s well sculpted and painted, and he`s got lots of articulation points, but my one complaint is that his fingers aren`t jointed at all like many other Marvel Legends figs. Still, he looks awesome, and it`ll be nice to have more than just one bad guy around.

In fact, here`s another one :

The Kingpin

Man, that`s one big dude...

The Kingpin, alias Wilson Fisk, is the top crimeboss in Marvel comics. He`s a long-time foe of both Spider-Man and Daredevil and has harassed just about every other hero or superteam at some point or another in his 40 year career. He`s a scary guy, but sometimes he can be a reasonable man. He`s gotta be pushing 7 ft tall and even though he looks fat, it`s supposed to be all muscle under his trademark white suit. He`s not superhumanly strong, but unless you are, you wouldn`t mess with him.

You might remember Kingpin from the 90`s Spider-man animated series. He was on that show quite a bit (I didn`t really watch it all that much myself). Or perhaps you remember him from the 2003 Daredevil movie (which many people would like to forget), where he was portrayed by Michael Clark Duncan. I thought that the black Kingpin was a fresh change to the character, but other die-hard comic fans might disagree.

His figure comes from the Face Off Twin Pack, where he came with Daredevil in the same box. Again, I bought this one loose, so I only got him complete with the cane. I wish he came with a cigar, since he was always smoking one in the comics, but I suppose Marvel and Hasbro didn`t want to get nailed for promoting tobacco use. Plus, given the scale of these figures, it would be incredibly small and impossible not to lose. Guess I`ll have to roll my own when it comes time to take photos. Another thing that I don`t like about this figure is that because of his shape and bulkiness, you can`t get him to properly sit down on a chair or even on the floor without his legs sticking way out. You`d think I guy that looks like that would have no trouble sitting on his butt all day...

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I do have a few shots I`ve done with these figures. Hope you like them:

GOBLIN JIG

`Brother from another mother!`

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As you can tell, I really don`t get out much.

Take care. Til next time,

May the Force be with you...

Everything's Coming Up Milhouse

Things have been good for me lately....very good. I'm surrounded by awesome people, I have a good job, I've got lots of toys (as many as any 38 year-old could ask for) and lots of freedom to do the things I want to do. I've got great kids, a decent car that works (but soon to be replaced), a modest comic collection, a big yard, a cool house (soon to undergo some improvements), a fridge and freezer full of food and a cat that greets me at the door (who ever said cats don't do that?). 

Two weeks ago, I got a raise.  Five days ago, I won a modest jackpot at the casino on my third spin on the slot machine. Three days ago, I got a handful of new action figures, some new cologne and a big stack of comics. Two days ago, my wife and I just booked our trip to Cuba -  leaving on my birthday, no less. You could say I'm in a pretty good mood.

I must have sat on a really large stack of horseshoes without knowing it, or accidentally eaten some four-leaf clovers or something. I feel inspired to write about absolutely everything, but it seems I'm so busy doing all these things and enjoying my life so much right now that it's hard to sit back and just reflect on everything. I guess I should just ride the wave rather than analyze it to death.

So that, right there, is my excuse for not blogging as much as I should - as if anyone were reading this anyway (..............hello?.............). I do have a lot to talk about (never really been a big problem for me) and I hope to get to it all eventually. I will continue to produce "The Sordid Life of Action Figures" feature, and I am hoping to change the format somewhat to make it more like an actual comic book with voice bubbles and full-page spreads in PDF format. I have new acion figures that I'd like to review/introduce before I add them into my stories.  I also plan on blogging about the trip to Cuba, both before and after we go. I want to spend a little time promoting my wedding photography, as well as pump up my sales in my Ebay store. I have much writing, and even more thinking to do.

So that's pretty much it for today. I just wanted to check in and let you know what's been going on, and what to expect from this blog in the future.  Remember; while there's such a thing as too much of a good thing, there's no such thing as having too many good things. (And I mean "things" in the esoteric sense, not just in terms of material goods.) 

Here's wishing good luck and good things for all of you!

May the Force be with you...