View Full Version : Spypen Luxo capabilities; Photo tour de ghetto & toys r us trip
So, I was out and about last Thursday morning (March 4th) & decided to take my
itty bitty digicam along for a chronological photo documentary of our little
outing through the ghetto.
Here's the digicam I brought along:
http://www.spypen.com/th02/images_produkte/luxo_produkt1.jpg
It's a Spypen Luxo - made in Germany. 1.3mp, no flash, 99 low res or 24 high
res pic capacity. Uber small.
Here's a pic of the camera from http://www.spypen.com to give an idea of it's
physical dimensions:
http://www.spypen.com/th02/images_produkte/luxo_foto.jpg
We (myself, my cousin & my God daughter) were off to Toys R us to pick up a BMX
bike for my cousin's son's 8th bday.
Anyways, on to the pics! (I scaled them down to 60% and resaved as jpg's rather
than bmp's.) Here's a good idea of the typical results achievable with this
miniature bad boy:
My God daughter sitting in the back of my car, which we all know so well as
Tron - thanks to a vortexer from Quebec who whipped up a pshop of my car a
couple years ago:
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/1alexuscar.JPG
and another:
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/2alexuscar.JPG
Ah, 7 blocks from my house... this is the corner of Scott Road & 96th Avenue
bordering the Municipality of Delta & the City of Surrey, British Columbia,
Canada. See that nameless building off behind the Shell gas station? Yeah,
that used to be a 7-11... but it was closed down last year or so ago because it
was the most often robbed 7-11 in the entire North American Chain, thanks to a
SkyTrain Station, 2 pubs, and a methadone clinic nearby...
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/3construction711.JPG
another pic of the same corner from a different angle. kinda artsy w/ the
positioning of that ghettofabulous construction pylon, eh?:cool::p
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/4constructionshell.JPG
Aaah, the Wheelhouse Pub & Bistro... this is the 230person + 65 person
neighbourhood "plub" & bistro I work at. (Pub in the early evening, a bit more
of a club on fri/sat nights - bumpin dance floor and such. someday I'll have
enough pennies saved up for a digicam complete avec flash & will show ya what
she's like inside over in my neighbourhood pub thread in the food and beverage
forum.) This is about 9 blocks past the 7-11, East on 96th Avenue if you must
know.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/5wheelhouse.JPG
This is the new Central City Tower in the center of Whalley. It was built
initially to house the Insurance Corporation of BC & Tech BC (University) but
both tenants have backed out/folded, so it's now home to a major credit card
call center and some other crap. The ground floor has a classy brewpub/coffee
shop in it called Central City Brewing with a licenced capactiy of 500 in the
pub and 300 in the restaurant - making it the largest in Surrey. It's a bit
too classy for the neighbourhood though, and was quite costly to setup.
($5.5million) It's partiall owned by singer Collin James. Whalley has the
highest personal property and autotheft rate per capita in the English speaking
world. This is the only pub you can have a nice beer, sip a gourmet coffee,
listen to a $500k sound system (collin james concert spec), eat pizza fresh out
of a $75k stone slab oven.... and watch the cops bust drug dealers and
prostutes through the window over at Surrey Central Station in broad daylight.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/6centralcity.JPG
Ah, destination big box toy store! w00t! TOYS!:D
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/7toysrus.JPG
Inside Toys R Us... I didn't scrap this pic 'cause I want to know what causes
this effect. The 1/2 greying or yellowing of images from time to time. Low
light? motion? :confused:
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/8yellowedtopalexustru.JPG
My God daughter, Alexus, cruisin' in a push cart toy:
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/9pushcartalexustru.JPG
Aaaaaaaw, Alexus' first VW driving experience!
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/10buglexitru.JPG
Yep, we all knew cruisin' in a bug would put a smile on her face! :) heh, she
thought it was an absolute riot when i "slalomed" that bad boy around the store
with her in it... :laugh: - people were looking at me funny when she was in 4
wheel drifts... :D
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/11buglexismiletru.JPG
Is this not the coolest looking kids bike evar?? I didn't look up enough, so
the top is chopped off... but it's like a cross between a mass produced kids
bmx/mtn bike & one of those custom chopper lowrider bikes - complete with grip
shifts & a cushy seat w/ a bit of a back rest on it. sooo :cool: - if I were a
kid (or a smaller man), I'd pimp one of these bad boys in a heartbeat.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/12coolbiketru.JPG
lol - this elmo sings/plays the chicken dance as he does, you guessed it, the
chicken dance! too cute.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/13elmochicken.JPG
ta da! Ben's new bmx. :cool: This is one wicked cool kids bike for a whopping
$99cdn! Ben got his bike on Sunday night & was oh-so-happy with his mom.
:thumbup:
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/14benbike.JPG
OF COURSE my cousin had to ride it out to my car... i mean, why not? - I had
already ridden it around the store. :D
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/15bikeridemom.JPG
Stuffed that badboy in the hatch of my '85 jolf... tight fit, but we managed.
Here's another shot of alexus - & you can see my fugly mug in the reflection.
Note the tiny size of the camera in front of my face.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/16meintron.JPG
Another shot of the central city tower... because it's just so out of place
here. It was designed by some downtown Vancouver architect & is smack in the
middle of the ghetto... kind of like a beautiful flower sprouting out of a pile
of dog shit.:laugh::p
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/17cctowertrulot.JPG
The infamous Surrey Central Skytrain Station & Bus Loop. (skytrain = above
ground rapid transit system train we've had here since 1986) All of the
junkies from all over the land ride the train out to this station to congregate
in one of the biggest drug growing/distributing/using centers of the entire
country... hell, the world! A bit of a neat pic though, nonetheless.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/18scstation.JPG
bwahhahaa - I literally stopped my car and backed up to snap a pic of this
house as my cousin was pointing out a number of known crack shacks around the
neighbourhood... hrmm, nice toys - maybe they run a nice pleasant daycare
center that we could drop alexus off at?:laugh: There was an Uzi fight just
down the street from here a week or so ago... very near one of my coworkers
houses. He's originally from another area of Surrey called Cloverdale, which
is "Country" (western) like... quiet - crickets put you to sleep w/ coyotes
howling from time to time... not sirens and gunshots keeping you up. btw,
these two areas are a whopping 20min drive apart. Another 10mins down the same
highway and you hit the waterfront at White Rock beach and the area known as
South Surrey/White Rock - which is beautiful & chock full of multimillion
dollar residences... a mere 100 city blocks down the same highway (King George
highway aka 136th Street) to the South.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/19daycarelol.JPG
Ah, the dirty Byrd... apparently a nasty ass strip joint. Never been, no
desire to go. Again, this is on King George.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/20dirtybyrd.JPG
This is the pub behind the Byrd... Poncho and Lefty's Country Rock Cabaret -
aka Punched Out & Left Out's... after work last Friday night I went there with
coworkers for last call, as they're open 1 hour later than we are - and within
10mins (1:50-2am) I witnessed a fight, a massive brawl, and a biker/drug
running gang beating that left a guy motionless on the ground bleeding from his
eyes and ear. (we thought he was dead) It's a long story, so i won't get into
it in this thread. The guy is okay though, I will say that much... as the
daughter of the owners of this pub was in our pub a couple nights later and
told me he came back in the next night (I know, :screwy:) with his mom &
was walking/talking, but just had a bit of glass embedded in his face near his
eye from a bottle. Not bad for being headbutted by a guy with a steel plate in
his forehead, bottled, then kicked & beaten with a bar stool.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/21ponchosenter.JPG
And just around the corner, back on King George Highway and 108th avenue or so
- we have Pawn Shop Strip. Uber Ghetto. Uber Uber UBER ghetto. lol. This is
where I went to see if any of the local ghetto vendors ended up with my sub
box/amp/sub/tool box & tools after they got jacked from the hatch of my car
during work a few weeks back on a Saturday night. No such luck. :( I'm out a
good $1200-1500cdn worth of stuff. Ah well, car's lighter, nimbler, and faster
now!:p
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/22pawnstrip.JPG
aahahahh - a trio of crackhead bums. No,i'm not stereotyping homeless
people... my cousin has seen these guy's smoking rock/meth outside of her ex'
workplace a few blocks down the street.
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/23crackheadbums3.JPG
Would a ghetto really be complete without one badassmotherf'n gym? hellz no!
This is Titan fitness... where many of the local drug dealers/pimps congregate
to do their boxing/kick boxing/iron pumping. Many a nice car/suv with bling
bling massive rims can be seen around here, right in the heart of the ghetto
near the BC Lions (football) training center & the old hooker loop. (there's a
cleanup whalley initiative... cops all over at all times of the day, but all
they've been able to achieve in the last year is to move/spread out the crime -
way to go guys! :rolleyes:)
http://free.filehost.ca/ewing/vortex/ghetto%20toys%20r%20us/24titanfitness.JPG
I hope you enjoyed my pictorial tour of the ghettoest place I've ever been/live
near & work on the fringe of! (and i've been to LA & Tijuana, Mexico)
Comments about the photography are welcome... especially about that one
yellowed pic - I want to know why that does that. Oh, and disclaimer: pics
aren't so great because:
a) the viewfinder is so small it's useless
b) even though it's broad daylight and before noon, I didn't really want to
bring the car to a full stop for a lot of those pics! :laugh: jk, i did stop
for most... but I quickly hit the gas asap - especially that last one at Titan
Fitness. lol
Again, these were shot on high res mode with a Spypen Luxo 1.3mp flashless
digicam - then scaled to 60% of their original length & width and saved as
jpg's instead of the stock bmp format. For the price, I highly recommend this
little pocket gadget.. so long as you're not concerned with low light/night/dimly
lit indoor pics. (can't) The body is aluminim, and thus does not get all beat
up like many of it's plastic rivals. Only the battery cover is plastic - but
it still looks perfectly fine.
Cheers & :beer:s,
vw_dick
:)
all that pain in you're fingers of typing...and no pics...:(
all that pain in you're fingers of typing...and no pics...:(
fixed - this forum software buggered my copied and pasted text.
i typed it in a text file before posting the vortex photo forum, as it's bound to get locked and then i can't copy/paste & post it elsewhere, like here. :p
dallas16v
10-03-2004, 23:35
I like reading your posts of your adventures, now if I could pull something like that off, I would be king!!
I like reading your posts of your adventures, now if I could pull something like that off, I would be king!!
lol
As cool as it is that you/others enjoy them, I = king of ~nothing... I mean, let's examine the facts that we can extrapolate from this thread alone:
1. I have so little of importance to do/so much excess idle time that I can cruise around the ghetto snapping pictures all afternoon. (yes, this means I'm uber single & quite the loner)
2. I live very near said ghetto.
3. I work on the fringe of it.
4. I then spent a hella long time composing an over 12000 character post. (hence the split, this forum allows 10000 max)
5. I was then hurting enough to cross post it to more than one forum to get my internet rocks off.
Ah yes, a great king i am...:rolleyes: king of my own boredom/digicam/keyboard & somewhat pathetic existence. :(
Poor guy... you should come to Amsterdam with the crazy Newyorkers in June, maybe you will lighten up a little ;)
Poor guy... you should come to Amsterdam with the crazy Newyorkers in June, maybe you will lighten up a little ;)
lol - i was just a little on the down side the other day... lotsa crap has gone down this past 8 months. brief summary:
6 people died, two of them suddenly.
3 more have cancer.
family court case/custody battle going on.
another family member being adopted out.
1 person has been diagnosed with aids, her 3yo daughter with hiv.
my godfather scared the shit outta me with his psychoticness on xmas eve, he's pretty much dead to me now - i don't care to speak to him again.
my grandmother refuses to speak to my mother. (we live 10mins apart)
my uncles threatened my dad's life.
petty, but my car was broken into twice & i lost $1500 worth of stuff.
etc
but no worries - last night was bumpin' fun... bought some new clothes, got a haircut, slicked my hair with ultraviolet reactive hair gel (black light) and went to work at the pub - good times. :)
It might sound stupid with all of the shit going on in your life, but... always look on the bright side of life ;) There will always be someone who cares about you as much as you care for her/him.. family, friends, whatever. If not.. call me :p
It might sound stupid with all of the shit going on in your life, but... always look on the bright side of life ;) There will always be someone who cares about you as much as you care for her/him.. family, friends, whatever. If not.. call me :p
ja, i know - but thanks for the reminder.
a local vortexer i know recommended a good book to me a few months ago... and since reading it, i've used some of the mental exercises which i initially thought were complete horse shit to change my mindset from depressed/gloomy & pessimistic to a hellofalot better all around. i don't feel as stressed, i think clearer, & i get more shit done. that and it helped me decide to accept my neighbours challenge of going back to school (again) and taking a course with him to shape up for a new career. damn i owe that guy a beer. lol
edit:
i've been stressed about other stuff a couple years ago to the point that i was physically ill, not sleeping, and grinding my teeth in my sleep so bad that i'd wake up and not be able to open my mouth as my jaw was clenched shut... had i not read that book and begun changing the way that i think, i dunno where i'd be right now - definitely not as smoothe sailin' as i am right now! that's for damn sure. heh
hurray for not thinking everything sucks! :p
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