Ceud Mìle Fàilte

Photography Nature Technology Food
Movies Music Politics

and life in the Highlands.

Fàilte

Thank you for dropping-by, I hope you enjoy your visit. The main content is to be found in the blog where I discuss everything and anything but topics including photography, nature, technology, food, movies, music and politics make regular appearances.

I commonly write reviews of movies (or films, if you prefer). Some movie reviews are short, others will be discussed in more detail. The scope covered will be mainly mainstream English language movies from the 1930s until the present day.

About me

My name is Iain MacDonald and I live in the Highlands of Scotland (although I have lived elsewhere in the past). I am a big fan of Free & Open Source Software which I use both professionally and at home.

Computing and technology tend to infuse themselves into my other interests, as once you learn some skills in one area it is convenient to use them to solve problems in other spheres.

When not tinkering with computers, I am likely to be found repairing things because living in the countryside you learn to be resourceful.

Of course, man doesn't live by SSH tunnels and kerosene vapour burners alone so food, as a subject, makes regular appearances too. Did I mention I used to work in hospitality?

Latest Life articles

My most recent ramblings.

  • Feeling sheepish

    I went for a walk along a forestry style track, yesterday. Ahead of me was a ewe, with two lambs. The ewe felt nervous about my approach, and started to trot away from me. The lambs were, of course, following her closely. However, the sheep didn't trot away uphill or ... [Read more...]

  • Regatta Hydrafort Matt Jacket

    I needed to buy a waterproof jacket for use when working. I also have a Gore-Tex jacket from Craghoppers, which is excellent, but I didn't want to ruin that jacket by using it for working every day. I have a few other Regatta products which are well made, so, for ... [Read more...]

  • Highland Life and the Coronavirus

    It is quite extraordinary, I've never experienced anything like it. We are now a couple of weeks away from Easter, which is normally the time when the summer tourist season starts. The roads would see increased traffic, and the tourist hotspots would start to be busy. Not this year. [Read more...]

  • New Manual Coffee Grinder

    I was without my vintage wooden Zassenhaus, so I rushed out and bought a new manual coffee grinder. The one I got is from Maison & White, and it is amazingly good. It is adjustable from very fine to coarse. Grinding is done with ceramic burrs, and the rest of ... [Read more...]

  • Push or Pull?

    A couple of days ago I saw these two boats coming up the canal towards us, as we were doing the daily dog walk. It was clear from a distance that the two boats were very close together, and I assumed the first boat was towing the second. [Read more...]

Click here to view the whole Life section.

My latest Mastodon posts

Mastodon is a microblogging app that is part of the decentralised web known as The Fediverse. See this article for more details.

Fitheach (@fitheach@mstdn.io)

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 21:38:06 +0000

Do we need colour?

A plain, ordinary scene; one version in colour, and the other in monochrome. The verdant green landscape and the blue sky is missing in the monochrome version, but there is still something of interest in the photo. Our brains probably fill-in the missing colours that our eyes aren't seeing in the monochrome version, and the textures are still there.

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Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:21:36 +0000

Furthermore, does it change your opinion of the photo when I tell you that the diagonal shadow was added by Fan Ho, in the darkroom? In reality, the wall didn't have a shadow.

Discuss.

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:17:36 +0000

Does it change your opinion of the photo when I tell you that Fan Ho staged the shot by arranging for his cousin to pose as the human subject?

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:13:48 +0000

This stunning photo was taken by film director, actor and photographer, Fan Ho, in 1954.

Ho was famous for taking candid photos of street life and the city architecture of Hong Kong, in the 1950s and 60s. His striking use of light and shadow, exemplified in "Approaching Shadow", led to him being linked to the Bauhaus art movement.

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Sun, 22 Nov 2020 18:18:19 +0000

I've now reached 1985, A View to a Kill.

I'm really beginning to warm to the Duran Duran theme song, better than most others.

I can see why this was Roger Moore's last outing as . He didn't look capable of most of the stunts, and all those dalliances with women young enough to be his daughter is well...

The film plot is also a bit tired. The usual baddie aiming for world domination. Yawn!

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 16:27:36 +0000

To-day, was haircut Sunday.

I've completely lost track whether the barbers is open or not (think, covid19 restrictions). Regardless, as I'm currently working Monday to Saturday, that doesn't leave much scope to get my haircut by a professional. I'm so glad I have my Lockdown hair cutting kit. I even think I'm getting quite good at it. I have developed a system to follow when using the electric clippers and the scissors. I'm even managing to cut whilst viewing in single and double mirrors.