Citizenship

Jun asks his sister Keiko about her taking out New Zealand citizenship and giving up her Japanese nationality.

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Jun: You’ll give up your Japanese citizenship, then?

Keiko: It’s a new start for me. I can forget.

Jun: But you're still Japanese.

Keiko: It’s not been an easy decision. All my life, I’ve thought of myself as Japanese. Suddenly, I won’t be. But I’m ready for the shock.

Jun: You’re still family. But friends? What do they say?

Keiko: I’ve been away twenty years. I’ve changed, friends have changed. And I have friends in New Zealand.

Jun: Your identity?

Keiko: Yes. I’m still Japanese. Standing on this bridge, I am conscious of the spirits in this shrine. Memories like that I cannot erase.

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Voice-over

Yes, it could have been written for a Japanese movie. But giving up any citizenship is giving up a lot. Family, identity, friends, culture, language… If the new family, identity, friends, culture, language don’t measure up, is it worth it…?

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Male Answer Syndrome

Brutus responds to Jacqueline’s question.

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Brutus: Oh, it’s high.

Jacqueline: But exactly how high? In meters.

Brutus: If I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.

Jacqueline: You don’t actually know, do you?

Brutus: OK. To the viewing platform it’s 1200 meters, and to the very top it’s 1800.

Jacqueline: I’d heard 1500 to the very top.

Brutus: Well give or take 300. Yeah, 1500.

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Voice-over

Male Answer Syndrome (MAS). Some males, when asked a question, feel they have to answer. “I don’t know” is not an option. And do some women like to ask questions that will lead to an embarrassing display of MAS? You betcha.

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Sales talk

It is a political rally but commerce continues.

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T-shirt seller: 100% cotton.

Farang: Don’t you have one with black letters?

T-shirt seller: “Truth Today!” Gold letters are better.

Farang: Hmm.

T-shirt seller: When we overthrow the government, these T-shirts will be valuable.

Farang: But if I wear it today, near the office, it could be dangerous.

T-shirt seller: Think of it this way. As a good investment.

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Voice-over

The language of sales. Step one: Remark on the quality. Step two: Insist on product superiority. Step three: Emphasize the value.

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Which lens?

Marian is contemplating buying a camera.

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Marian: What lens should I get?

Shootist: Depends on what you shoot. Close-ups, like inside a flower? Buildings? Portraits, like family members? Action pix like sports events? Far-off scenes like Big Nature?

Marian: All of them.

Shootist: So you need a whole bag of different lenses. A quiver-full of different arrows, if you will.

Marian: Why all the hunting analogies?

Shootist: Photography is a hunt. A photographer is a modern hunter-gatherer. Close work you need a macro lens that will let you get a few centimeters from your subject. Buildings and nature, you need a wide-angle lens, one that has a focal length starting at about 17 or 18. Pictures of people, a bright lens of about f1.8, focal length around 50 or 80 so you can blur the background and have the face in focus. Action pix you need a fast telephoto, say 200mm, at least f4, with image stabilizer to reduce blurring.

Marian: Quality?

Shootist: Most cameras are offered with multi-purpose kit lenses. Low-end, plastic bodied items. Hanging these on the front of a high-end camera you won’t get the best results. GIGO.

Marian: Any suggestions for just a couple of lenses to cover anything that might come out of the thicket?

Shootist: The best two lens reasonable cost solution would be the 17-85 f4 and the 70-200 f4. That way you’d have 17 to 200mm covered with image-stabilized lenses.

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Voice-over

Giving good advice balances a directive accompanied by a short rationale. Shootist, despite his apparent agro stance, and the unavoidable acronym-flavored technicalities, delivers succinctly.

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