 Good day, May 40 here So I lost my $70 gimbal at Bondi Beach so now I'm trying out the DJI Creator Combo just lashed out with $500 for a wireless external mic Sparing no expense to these high quality video productions So I spent about half my time in Australia walking around with a Yamaha about half my time walking around bare-headed just wanted to see how much it affected how people related to me and to the best of my knowledge it made zero difference like some some people made some Jewish jokes like oh you know you're probably lost because you've suffered so much that was about the extent of it so Aussies like to make jokes they like to make racial jokes they like to make religious jokes the Australian elite are not fond of any of these more provocative jokes but now regular Aussies they love a good laugh I think we're safe here well there goes my external mic so note to self not a good idea to run around somebody tell me how's the sound quality of this wireless external mic it just sound like normal so trying out a new gimbal the DJI gimbal so basically no reaction to to wearing a Yamaha in Australia and I think traditionally there probably would have been more of a reaction but Australia's become more multicultural which has made it more user-friendly for Jews and for Muslims and for other minority groups now almost all of my orthodox Jewish friends from Australia you know they much prefer it in America because they recall in Australia they used to get heaps of verbal abuse every time they walked to Shoe in Sydney but when I asked around in Sydney they don't recall that so maybe that happened 10 15 20 years ago in a different time so I think the dominant thing that shapes people's reactions to a Yamaha is nationalism so when Israel is at war right and when say the news media is making a convincing case that Israel is not conducting itself with the highest rate of ethics so can you hear me with this external mic let me know if sounds all right so when Israel is at war then I notice I get a lot more feedback on the Yamaha so like all sorts of strangers want to come talk to me about you know the Jewish state and they're at war with the Lebanese or with the Palestinians or with the mass or whoever so in an age of nationalism and I think we're living in an age of nationalism then the Yamaha is primarily seen I think as a nationalist symbol so there's a religious meaning to the Yamaha that it's to remind the Jew that there is a God above him but we're not living in an age of religion living in an age of nationalism and so I think the national the Yamaha is primarily come to be seen as a national symbol and so the primary thing I think that influences how people see Jews is what's going on with the Jewish state so why did my gimbal just shut down interesting so I'm back in LA now and falling in love with LA all over again I think it's great to see my friends it's great to go for a walk on lovely hills it's clean it's safe here it's great to get back to my old routine so I set myself the goal of journaling every day now why do I live in LA so that I remind myself why I'm here so consciously it's the kind of fall home for various various expressions of orthodox Judaism the community and friends that I've built up over my 27 years living here and the weather the opportunities you meet so many fascinating people in LA and it's a big city so there are writer groups you can go to like a writer gathering a writer party or book reading or poetry reading at least before the age of covid on a regular basis so let me know how my wireless external mic is working flash that with $500 for this package I want to make sure it provides the premiere viewing experience there's a great article in the Los Angeles Times today by Pat Morrison on the quality of Los Angeles light so with good lighting when shooting a movie or a video you can cover up a lot of flaws on the other hand like harsh lighting it brings out flaws in the skin I noticed that middle age and older women like are really often sensitive about the lighting at a social gathering when I talked to Heather McDonald at the Manhattan Institute she talked about how much she loves California and the main thing she talked about was the quality of the lights so they're frequently spectacular sunrises and sunsets here but today it's rather overcast like in Sydney it seemed to be overcast about 95 percent of the time and generally speaking you get sunny days about 260 days a year in LA and there is some sunshine for about 330 days a year but much of what brought the movie industry out here in the early 20th century was the quality of the light good day mate so I'm using a new wireless external microphone can you hear any difference in the sound quality it's bearing no expense for the premiere viewing and listening experience all right here's Pat Morrison writing in the LA time state you've noticed it right there's just something about LA light Los Angeles is a place of lights galore neon lights klieg lights headlights makeup mirror lights traffic lights then there is the light the overhead halo of blue sometimes blanched into whiteness sometimes edge with smog sepia but always a gaudy locks light not too hot not too cool almost as changeless as if it had been painted up there a bit of a dull overcast January here whatever considerable ugliness goes on here below there it is the ocean may churn the land may quiver but there's the unshadowed sky an Englishman here unaccustomed to weather as his conversational gambit but after pick another topic so Southern California's painters across two centuries who spent the whole blue palette on it so Julius Schulman's architectural photographs made the light at top your performer as the buildings movie people cannot get enough that's consistent uniformity made Los Angeles the phototropic movie capital so early movie makers found Los Angeles the best spot to make pictures because the most essential quality of all is the sunlight is as nearly perfect as can be for our work must have the very best sunlight