Rob Masters

We finally got around to seeing the 2019 Hellboy movie. The one without del Toro and Perlman. Instead we get Neil Marshall and David Harbour. As an added bonus, we also get Lovejoy - I mean Ian McShane - as Prof Broom, and Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson. This is not like the earlier movies - it is much, *much* closer to Mike Mignola's graphic novels in feel, and this is reflected in the R-18 rating. Mike's novels have a very distinctive flow to them, and are meticulously researched. This movie reflects that research and the somewhat odd pacing, which some people may find a little off-putting. The research takes you across a dozen mythologies and legends, and binds  them together to make a magical tapestry of horror and wonder. The pacing leaves you breathless when you are expecting respite, and still gives you a few moments to catch your breath - but  by the time you've realised it, it is too late. Laws of physics are routinely ignored - and the  characters are a

I have one of those cheap powered Pano heads. I also have a Ricoh Theta S (I have a V as well, but that's not what this is about). The Theta S has a composite interval shooting mode, so I set it for 10 second exposures, for several minutes. Then I mounted it on a tripod on top of the Pano head. The head I set for 15° an hour - which approximates the Earth's rotation, and pointed it roughly at the South Celestial Pole. I say roughly, because it is a tricky thing to do right, and this was really just a PoC. The end result has a little streaking, but much less than I would otherwise expect, and much more detail than would otherwise be available. Overall, I'd call it a successful experiment, and I look forward to trying again with better alignment.