The California Files

Who Are All These People and Why Are They In Our Way?

We drove up to the family ranch for Christmas, as usual. The trip up was relatively painless, probably because we traveled on Christmas day. Ah, but the trip home was a different story.

Usually, the 315 miles from ranch to home takes us four hours, 15 minutes: set the cruise control for 75 mph – that’s a safe five-over, mind you – and let the miles roll past. This time the trip took us a little more than six hours.

The ranch is 10, maybe 15 miles east of Interstate 5. As soon as we left the local ranch roads and hit I-5, we encountered mile upon mile of stop-and-go Boxing Day traffic - an endless and flow of cars as thick as something flowing from a faucet. Traffic would come to a complete stop, and it would stay stopped. Then it would move slowly for awhile. Then stop again. Faucet on, faucet off.

We figured there must be one hell of a wreck somewhere up on front of us. Carnage. Mayhem.

But no. It was just an excess of vehicles, far more than the freeway could handle.

It was worse than traffic here in Lost Angeles. It took us about 90 minutes to reach a spot called Santa Nella, which we usually reach in about 30 minutes.

So just south of Santa Nella we jumped off of I-5 and took route 152 east to Highway 99. This was quite busy, but at least it flowed well.

 Traffic got heavy again when 99 and 5 joined, just north of the Grapevine, and got really heavy through Valencia and over the Newhall Pass. We were able to dodge around some of this by using the truck lanes.

Finally we were home. And damned glad to be there. The cats, however, were indifferent, reminding me of my eldest son.

 I think we’ll think twice before we again try to drive anywhere on any holiday weekend.

 -JFT

Excellence Gone

Photography and music. Two of my favorite things. But it seems that the technology that each use these days is marching backwards, in terms of quality of reproduction. And so are the expectations of most folks. In fact, many folks seem to be willing to accept standards that are – well, lower than the belly of a snake that’s crawling along the bottom of a ditch. Low.

Photography, for instance: We’re told that point-and-shoot cameras now are nearly obsolete. That’s because every cell phone now has a built-in camera and that’s what people are using. Oh, you think a cell phone is capable of the same kind of photographic quality that even the rankest point-and-shoot is? I. Think. Not.

Some folks still do make prints of the photos they shoot, but most apparently are interesting in sending photos over the Web. I like prints. But when I shopped for a new printer not long ago, I had to work hard to find what I want – most don’t provide the kind of sharpness I require. This certainly is true of hobbyist printers, and it also seems to be true of at least the lower levels of the semi-pro large-format printers. And don’t get me started on those printers that will print directly from your phone, with its crappy little plastic lens – oh, and when was the last time you cleaned that lens?.

I find this curious: Why would you not want your images just as crisp and tack-sharp as possible? And as big?

People these days seem to insist on HD television, so they seem to know what a great image looks like. But they don’t insist on great images when it comes to their own photography. This baffles me.

The concept of high fidelity also seems to be obsolete. When was the last time you saw a store that specialized in high-fidelity reproduction equipment? Sure, you still see speakers and things, but these days they’re oriented toward surround-sound systems for video.

Rather than listening to music over a stereo system that offers actual, you know, high fidelity, people listen over iPods. Or maybe they dock their iPods in chintzy little devices that channel the iPod’s contents through tiny speakers.

Oh, you think your iPod qualities as hi-fi? I. Think. Not. And if you’re downloading music, because of the extreme sampling rate used, you’re getting low-fi material that’s on a par, in terms of reproduction quality, with the old 78-rpm records. And maybe not that good.

For sure, I take pictures with the camera in my phone. And I listen over an iPod (though the music is all transferred direct from CDs, so actually is quite detailed). But when I’m serious about photos and music, I used a real camera, a real printer that will produce killer, tack-sharp 8 x 10s. And when I want serious music, I crank up a stereo system – one of several in the house – that will provide a near-concert-hall experience.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

Or maybe I’m just showing my age and general crankiness.

-JFT