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stxn-the-mxn · 5 years

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Birds || Stan Uris X Reader

Stan had always enjoyed the simpler things in life. Whether it was a walk through the park, sitting down and completing a puzzle or just existing in a passage of silence, Stan took every moment like this as a blessing.

Maybe that’s why you found him so endearing. Meeting Stan in college was a breath of fresh air. Growing up as you did, life was never calm or serene. You had become accustomed to constant insanity and always being told that there was no time for breaks or sitting around.

Maybe that’s why he found you so fascinating. He had never met someone who couldn’t bear to sit around and not be moving. He was intrigued by your need for movement, your need to always be doing something. It was almost supernatural to him.

That’s why you clicked.

Stan Uris, who had his heart set on one goal, and stuck to it, always making time for himself and Y/N L/N, whose goal changed every week, who never seemed to take a break.

You had made a promise to each other pretty early on in your friendship. You would show him the more energetic side of life; the crazy activities you found yourself partaking in daily and he would show you the calmer side; encouraging you to take a break, sit down, maybe read a book or something.

He tried his hardest to find something to break your fastpaced actions. Puzzles hadn’t held your attention for more than ten minutes. The book he had offered had ended up bookmarked on page five for three months. The walk in the park had ended ubruptly as you found the idea of fetch with a dog more your speed.

It seemed, no matter how hard he tried, Stan had failed to break you out of your “need to do things constantly” mindset.

You weren't doing so good either.

Stan had clung to his seat in fear as you drove down the highway in your fancy car that had been a college gift. He had definitely not enjoyed going to that amusement park and especially hated the rollercoaster with the loops. It seemed that maybe ice skating had also not been the right thing for Stan.

You often found that after an outing, you’d be buzzing as you dropped him home, and after he invited you in, as he usually did, he’d be sitting down. Whether he was reading, doing a puzzle, or had flicked on the TV too, he was never standing or constantly moving like you.

It had been a night like this, after a whole day spent at a waterpark. Stan had enjoyed himself, surprisingly. It wasn’t as fast-paced as other activities you’d made him do. Plus, there were some other bonuses to that. Namely being able to stare at you in your swimsuit.

Walking into his apartment, Stan noticed that you weren’t buzzing as usual, but felt it wasn’t right to bring it up. Sitting on his couch, he switched on the TV, letting the 2 am reruns play as he picked up his book.

“How do you do it?”

Stan furrowed his brow at your question. He furrowed it more as you sat beside him. Sitting wasn’t a “you thing” to do.

“Do what?”

He examined your face, taking your trembling lip, and the tears brimming on your waterline. He didn’t know what to do. In the six years he’d known you, he’d never once seen you like this.

“Y-you’re always so calm! And I just can’t understand how you do this. I don’t know if this is a childhood thing or whatever, but I just wish I could be like you.”

Neither of you spoke. Neither of you moved, both just waiting for someone to do something. Stan shuffled closer to you. You collapsed in his arms, sobbing quite violently. He processed your words, one certain sentence tumbling around in circles.

“What do you mean? What do you mean ‘a childhood thing’?”

You looked up at Stan, though his face was blurred through the tears.

“Well, I guess I thought that your childhood may have something to do with how you are… I know mine did.”

Stan couldn’t find a way to respond. How would he explain that he knew nothing of his childhood? And what the hell went on in your childhood? You moved your head to his lap, and Stan brushed his hands through your hair. Your sobs turned to soft whimpering.

There was one thing he could remember, though. Something he used to do anytime things became too much. Maybe, just maybe, it would do the same for you.

“Hey, hey, don’t cry. I have an idea.”

You sat up, intrigued by what Stan was talking about. He got off the couch, holding out a hand for you to grab. You gladly took it, using your other hand to wipe away some excess tears. He grabbed two bags on his way out. He pulled you out of his apartment, and you fumbled for your car keys, but Stan stopped you.

“I don’t want to drive a fancy car today. I don’t wanna ride in a red corvette.”

He smiled at you, dragging you past your car. He knew where he was going, and you were just along for the ride. Walking at a quick pace, he spotted the gates up ahead. You had seen them too. You tried to quicken the pace, but Stan shut that down quickly.

“I don’t wanna jog my Saturday away.”

Your tears were becoming less frequent, a smile slowly forming. You turned Stan around to face you, meeting his eyes. He pulled you into a hug, resting his head on top of yours.

“I don’t wanna go home yet.” You whispered into his chest, both of your faces breaking out into smiles.

You pushed through the gates, the buildings and concrete turning into trees and grass. Considering it was 2 am, the park was empty and quiet. You smiled wider; it was calm.

“Today is not the day to jump out of a plane. I don’t wanna parasail or play roulette.” He sent you a sly smile, making you jokingly smack his chest. How he had found your list of activities was beyond you.

“I don’t wanna risk it all, or go insane.” He lowered his voice, wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have brought that up.

“I don’t wanna go home yet.”

Stan stopped, staring at the trees. He placed the two bags he’d grabbed on the grass, pulling out camping chairs. Unfolding them, he sat down, patting the seat next to him.

“I just wanna watch the birds go by from my handy, foldable, blue canvas throne.” You giggled as he watched the tiny creature fly across the sky. It was enchanting to see them soar like that.

“I wanna watch them fly and fly, and see them soar up into the unknown.” He found his binoculars, handing them to you and directing you to where a birds nest sat on a branch. He watched as your face lit up at the sight of the baby there.

“But I feel just like a nerd, watching birds, watching me here all alone.” You put the binoculars down, facing Stan, who was looking at his shoes awkwardly, fiddling with his hands.

“Stan, you’re not alone now.” You linked your hand with his, making his smile return.

“Hey, I know a great spot for this, follow me.”

You left the chairs, moving through the trees, Stan guiding you. He made sure you didn’t trip over any exposed roots, or rocks, before exiting on the other side of the trees. A beautiful greenhouse faced you, hedges surrounding it, and Stan explained that it had been abandoned years ago.

“It’s my special place. No one else knows about it.”

Inside, it seemed like Stan had been fixing up the place. A telescope pointed out the window at the sky, more binoculars next to it. He even had a coffee machine. A couch was pushed against the wall, a record player beside it.

Stan had always preferred records over CDs.

“I don’t wanna breakdance, or learn taekwondo.” He kneeled down to the bottom of a bookshelf, pulling out what looked like a photo album.

The first few pages were photos of birds, with details about them written in his exceptionally neat handwriting. The more he flicked through, the more the photos of birds turned into photos of you.

They were photos of you, partaking in every activity you’d brought him to.

“I don’t wanna fish till all the fish are gone.” You laughed at the photo of you, taken perfectly as he’d pushed you into the river.

“I don’t wanna rollerskate, even if it’s slow.” He pointed to the picture from that day, which showed you holding his hand during the ‘couple skate’, the disco ball’s light reflected in your eyes.

“I don’t wanna pass out in a marathon.” He hadn’t passed out in that marathon, but neither of you had finished, choosing to ditch for ice cream. This photo was one that made you glare at him playfully. You did not want photographic evidence of you dropping your ice cream cone.

“I don’t like soccer, baseball, track or field.” The next four photos were the ones you’d taken of him, each taken at the unfortunate moment he’d either been hit in the face or fallen on his face. In the baseball one, there was a reflection of you, laughing madly at the poor man’s fate.

“I’m not up for a match of polo.” Polo had been an activity cut short by your horse losing its shit at you, so Stan, of course, had taken a photo of you running in fear, the photo slightly blurring from his hands shaking from laughter.

“I don’t wanna seek or try to stay concealed.” Ikea hide and seek was a good idea in hindsight but after a shelf had fallen on you, you had to run through the maze of furniture to get out. Stan had gotten a photo of you hiding in a closet as he found you, tangled up in the clothes that had fallen.

“I’m also not up for waterpolo.” There was no photo, as that had been the activity that resulted in Stan dropping his camera. You had bought him a new one with the money you’d been saving to take him to Disneyland, but he didn’t need to know that.

“I just wanna watch the birds up there. Track the migratory patterns they’ve flown.” He showed you a folded up piece of paper, letting you unfold it. It showed a map of the earth, thousands of dotted lines showing migratory patters for what seemed like millions of birds.

Stan was a dedicated man.

Stan left the album open, running to grab some binoculars as the sun began to rise. He handed you a pair and brought you over to the couch, which sat opposite one of the windows. The first birds chirp filled Stan with excitement, like a child on their birthday.

“I wanna watch them from my chair, with my binoculars, my latte and my phone.”

Sitting besides Stan, you could see the way his eyes lit up at the sight of birds flying overhead. You could see the freckles he had gotten from sitting here in the sun for hours on end. And you could see his beautiful smile, proud of what he’d done.

You spotted a bird that Stan didn’t have a picture of, nudging him and pointing in its direction. He gasped in surprise, but just as he was about to take a photo, it flew away. You both looked down in defeat.

“Trying to spot a lark, in the park, parked in nature all alone.” He looked at you in surprise. You knew what bird that had been? The thought of you knowing about birds made his heart skip a beat.

“Alone here with the doves, and the sparrows, the ospreys, the owlets, the egrets and my list.” His eyes widened as if he had forgotten something. He grabbed another folded up piece of paper, revealing a checklist of birds.

He showed you the list of birds he had seen and photographed, and you were shocked at the dedication this man had to a simple hobby. When did he find the time to do all this? You couldn't deny that you were impressed.

“It’s just me and Mr Finch. The robins, the kingfishers, the snipes. Though I heard they don’t exist.” His extensive list of birds was insane, but he was so proud of himself. You were proud of him.

“Each little species in its little way can teach me what awaits you if you can get away.”

Stan continued watching the birds, every now and again taking a photo of the birds. You knew you should’ve been watching them too, but watching Stan seemed far more interesting. You didn’t even notice yourself moving towards him.

“I wanna watch the birds do what they will ” Stan mumbled under his breath, before going on to talk more about the birds, their origins and eventually he noticed your focus drifting. He assumed it was because he was using words you didn’t know. It was actually because right now Stan seemed far more intriguing.

“Sorry if I’m ornithologically prone…” He apologized, but you brushed it off, muttering that you found it quite cute. Luckily, he didn’t hear you.

“I wanna watch from somewhere undisturbing. Quiet, calm, still.” His hand rested atop yours, lacing your fingers together. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw your cheeks brighten, as his did the same.

“Sit right here and gaze at the unknown.” You sighed, resting your head on his shoulder. He moved his hand from yours, opting to wrap it around your waist instead. You felt yourself growing tired, snuggling closer to the Stan.

“I don’t wanna fly in the sky… I just wanna be alone.” He mumbled, wondering if you had grown bored of this. Of him. Stan dropped the binoculars, his focus entirely on you now. You were almost asleep on his shoulder, and he couldn’t look away.

“It’s not a big deal or anything.” You reassured him, letting your eyes close.

He lay back on the couch, your sleeping figure against him. His fingers rhythmically tapped against your arm softly, making you hum in contentedness. Right now, everything was perfect. You were perfect.

Your soft snores muffled against his chest were like music to him. He had never seen you so calm and peaceful. He should’ve been celebrating his achievement, cheering that he broke your fast-paced life, but right now, the sight in front of him, clinging to his shirt was enough of a prize for him.

“I just wanna be alone…”

#stan uris #stan uris x reader #stanley uris #stanley uris x reader #the losers club #the losers club x reader #it #it x reader

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cookiedoughmeagain · 5 years

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Haven DVD Commentaries; 3.12 - Reunion

Commentary with Gabrielle Stanton (writer for the episode) and Brian Millikin (on set for filming)

GS discusses how sad it is that Claire is dead: Audrey liked Claire quite a bit and it was really sad killing that character; a really fun character. BM: It was sad because we created her to die. We knew that she was going to die at this exact part of the season. GS: She did a great job in this scene. BM: I actually really like Evil Claire. I’m sad that we didn’t get to use more Evil Claire.

BM: This was the very first scene that was shot for this episode [As Claire has a gun to the back of Audrey’s head] because we had shot what this scene follows in episode 11 the night before. So they left everything as it was so we could shoot this.

GS: So we realised this season that Nathan’s preferred manner of entry is to shoot the lock off a door. BM: He does it again later in this episode and I think several times this season. GS: I think next season, he’s not even going to check if it’s locked. He’s just going to shoot it. BM: I just would love to see an episode where we’re just in a room just talking and suddenly ‘bam’ and then Nathan flies in just… GS: … just like, Hey who wants coffee?

BM: This episode is where we really start to say ‘the barn’ at least every other line. GS: If someone tries to make this and the next epsiode into a drinking game around that, they will not make it through the episode.

BM [As we see the guy running into the gym and hiding under the bleachers]: I should say, this was an incredibly difficult scene for us to shoot. GS: I was amazed they found those telescopic bleachers. When I wrote it I was worried we’d never find it. BM: Well, the didn’t work as well as you might think that they would. What you can’t see here is that just off screen there is an army of grips, PAs, myself, everyone we could get, pushing them. They weighed about seven million pounds and wouldn’t go anywhere. GS: Well you guys did a great job because that looked very scary.

BM: We shoot a lot at an elementary school that’s near our sound stages, but this was actually a high school that’s about ten minutes outside of town, where a lot of our crew had gone to high school. So up and down the walls, actually just outside of this gymnasium, are the class photos and prom photos for a lot of the crew.

GS: I love the idea of high school reunions because they are great and awful all at the same time. And we thought wouldn’t it be fun to see a little window into Nathan that we don’t normally get to see. Although I can’t really see him having been friends with any of those people. But I think we decided he was probably a bit of a loner as a kid anyway. BM: You can see from the reunion sign there that we were very careful not to say which class they were actually in, or what year this is taking place. Because when we figured out the timelines we realised this would be like their 17th year reunion. GS: Which is kind of an odd year for a reunion. But then Haven always does things a little differently. BM: But I think the reunion idea works well as well because we wanted Nathan and Audrey to have this little special moment, so there was the idea of, What if they danced together?

[As Duke asks the others where Claire is, there is another comment that it’s sad she’s dead] BM: It might have been nice to mourn her a bit longer GS: There’s no time! Things move quickly in Haven.

BM: But what they’re doing here [with the facial composite that show’s them Arla] is super-exciting because this was one of the first ideas we had for the season. GS: With the skinwalker arc, this season is kind of the first season that we’ve had an overall bad guy to run through the entire season. BM: A big bad. GS: A big bad, so to speak; in Buffy parlance. BM: And we always had this idea of the stiched face. GS: I thought that morph [where Arla puts the face on] worked out great. BM: It did. She actually had a body double who was actually in the make-up to make it look like she had no face, and they both took turns putting that mask on and then they merged it all together. GS: We kind of knew what it was going to look like because Nick Parker, our intrepid writers assistant, is also an excellent artist and drew this representation of how it would look, and we actually have it on the wall in our writers’ room. BM: That is something that we should have put on the DVD.

BM: But this was so exciting because we had been waiting all year to get to the Arla Cogan reveal. We even seeded it back in episode 7 in the wedding photo they found in Colorado. And also seeded back into episode one with the kidnappers voice telling Audrey she wasn’t the only one who loved the Colorado Kid. And in fact I think the reason her name is Arla is because the name was Arla in the book, right? GS: It was. The Colorado Kid’s wife in the book was named Arla. We thought that would be nice for fans who had read the book, to do a little call-back. And actually when you think about it, getting back to the Colorado Kid this season was kind of exciting too because it’s the premise the whole series is based on. And we’d moved away from it for a while, but he’s always there in the background. BM: Yeah we hadn’t touched on it much in the second season so I think that was the goal for this season.

GS: I thought this actress [Jeanine] was great; I loved this character. This was fun to do someone who has a Trouble that is not something you’re going to build a whole episode around, but just kind of a fun Trouble. Because not everyone can have a shoot-lightning-bolts-out-of-my-fingers Trouble. BM: I like that she hits on Duke in this scene. GS: I like that big fruity drink. I can’t imagine that being something that Duke would normally serve. BM: This is a good time to mention the director for this episode, as her name comes up on screen, Lee Rose who has done a number of episodes for us. GS: Yep, she is always fantastic. As we are doing this commentary we are shooting season 4 and she just finished an episode for us.

GS: So this is the first time that any of our characters actually talk to the real Arla. BM: He’s surprised that she looks like Supergirl. She is actually Laura Vandervoort, who is one of the nicest people on the planet by the way. GS: She was great. Because it can be fun but also very hard to play the villan. BM: She was good. And she totally got it. I don’t think she had played many villans before, so I think she was excited about that. And that this wasn’t a typical psychopath because … GS: … she is doing it all for love.

GS: That actually looks like it’s sunny out there. Or is that just lighting. BM: It was - this was late august, which is one of the brief periods of time when it’s not raining in Chester, Nova Scotia. All the crew were in shorts and t-shirts and would go swimming in between setups.

BM [As Laura and Duke are talking at the table in the Gull]: This is an example of how great Laura was and how excited we were to have her. I think it’s a common thing that when you’re not on camera [or only the back of your head is] that you often don’t act quite as much. But she would do it every time. And I remember at one point someone said to her; You know you can take it easy, you don’t have to go for it when you’re not even on screen. But she was like, No I’m doing this. GS: Yeah it’s true because that gives the actor they’re playing with so much more to work with. If someone’s just sitting there phoning it in, it’s really hard to give the best performance you can give. GS: So here Arla is trying to create an unholy deal with Duke. And as we know, Duke can be a shady character, we’re not always sure what he’s going to do. BM: That’s true, and this was a big deal set-up because we play this again in a big way in the season finale, when we’re not quite sure what Duke’s going to do.

BM: This was a big deal episode for Vince and Dave too in that they thrust themselves into the middle of the investigation and we get to see them out and about. With a gun! They werre pretty excited about that. They were actually a bit too excited, Richard and John the two actors. But in the same way when they got to be tortured earlier this season; they were excited about it. BM: While Laura Vandervoort might be the nicest woman on the planet, Adam Copeland is the nicest man on the planet. GS: Absolutely. BM: And this episode he said he realised that something about his role in this episode, he was like; I just come in and tell someone something they need to know about the Guard - and then I leave. Which wasn’t necessarily true but it was because we ended up cutting out another scene.

BM: [As we see Denise lying in the pool of oil from the deep fat fryer] That was actually not real grease. It was some clear plastic that they had to lay down on the floor because they weren’t allowed to spill something there. It was just this one solid piece that they clicked this poor actress into. It was pretty hardcore. And it’s not actually really a kitchen either, it’s a kitchnette in the corner of this room, because the actual kitchen in the shool was too small to shoot in. GS: It’s funny you say that about the grease because when Matt McGuinness and I were doing the commentary for 3.04, when the guy was bleeding out we were commenting that there wasn’t as much blood as we remembered, and now that you say that I remember it was because we were leasing someone’s house to do the shot and we couldn’t put too much ‘blood’ on the concrete because it would soak in and stain it. All these little production things you never think about when you’re watching TV.

BM: That was an important conversation [between Audrey and Nathan in the kitchen] that we just talked through I think. Because we had to justify why they were still investigating this case when Audrey is about to go away in a day or two. So she had to tell him that this is actually what she wants to do. GS: She wants to work. She wants to help people. Audrey’s thing is always; My job is to help the Troubled, so I think she would do that up to the very last minute she was in Haven. BM: And I feel like this one [about not cancelling the dance] was also a super-controversial conversation because they decide to go through with the reunion despite the fact that two people have died. GS: Yeah, but I think we did justify it, because if the killer is after people going to the dance, then … BM: We’re using them as bait. GS: Yeah, basically. BM: We’re endangering the lives of everybody. GS: But it is the only way to draw out the killer. And it is also high-stakes for Nathan because he was a classmate. And I think that’s another reason Audrey stayed with the investigation because she was afraid they would go after Nathan.

[As we see Duke walk up to the locker by the water] BM: This was super-exciting because we had one shot at this. Because as soon as he goes in the water, his hair is going to be wet and we can’t do another take. We had one take. So we had to rehearse, and with the position where Teen Duke comes up in the water so that he comes up in the exact right spot. GS: So did Eric have a wetsuit or anything on under his clothes? BM: No. GS: Good for him! BM: I know. Method actor. Also a really great guy. GS: And no snake was harmed in the making of this show.

[About Nathan’s yearbook photo] BM: By the way, that is a real photo of Lucas Bryant as a kid. GS: Really? BM: I thought for months that he was pulling one on us. But it was really him.

[About the Teen!Duke actor] GS: I thought this guy did a fanatstic job. I totally bought it BM: He was great. GS: And if it hadn’t been episode 12 or whatever, couldn’t you see like two or three episodes where we just had a young Duke walking around. BM: Maybe we could bring him back. Some sort of time travel thing. GS: Oh that’s cool. BM: When we cast him he’d never met Eric before, but they spent like half an hour together, and Eric showed him some of Duke’s mannerisms. GS: Yeah I talked to Eric about that. He called me to suggest it and it was a fantastic idea. It was so nice of him. And it helped to get the mannerisms, the body language, to get the speech patterns right - it really made a huge difference. BM: But there was one huge crisis. We were sending people all over the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Because that time when he and Eric first met each other was a Friday (having cast Jake as Teen Duke earlier that week) and we were due to start shooting on the Monday. And Eric was the one who noticed this, he was like; “Jake’s great, it’s going to be great - one problem; our eyes are not the same colour at all”. Jake’s eyes are not the brown colour that Eric’s are. And so everyone decided that we needed to get contact lenses. And we needed to do it fast and the problem was that it was already 6pm on a Friday and everywhere was closed. So it was a case of telling everyone on the crew to stop what they’re doing and asking if they know an optometrist. And someone’s best friend’s college roommate’s dentist worked at a glasses store once or something, and so they got into this place on the Saturday afternoon to get Jake fitted for contact lenses. And Jake had never worn contact lenses before. And they got made and arrived on Monday only a couple hours late so we had at first to shoot not on his eyes. It was pretty crazy; we almost had to stop production. Or we would have had to VFX it in afterwards. GS: Yeah, paint his eyes in in post - that would have been a nightmare.

[As Jeanine tells Nathan about her Trouble} GS: I love this scene. I love the cake of it all. And yes, part of me wishes I had that Trouble. BM: But it’s what you were saying; we have so many Troubles that we would love to do, but we can’t because … GS: Because they’re fun or silly, or not big enough or not stakesy enough, or we can’t get enough story out of it. BM: Well can we spoil some of those, that we know we’re never going to use? What about the guy who is always feeling light-headed, or seasonal disorder guy …. GS: Wait wait wait - how do you know we’re never going to do that? What, who is seasonal disorder guy? BM: Well I can’t tell you now. Or what about starfish-hands. GS: Oh yeah that I think we will probably never do; the Trouble where all of a sudden someone’s hands turn into starfish. In the writers’ room when we need a temporary curse, that’s our go-to; starfish hands.

BM: I love that Jeanine and Robert end up together at the end, but do you think that they’re just going to eat a lot of cake for the rest of their lives? GS: Well, my thinking of it was that once she actually cut into her own wedding cake, that her Trouble would go away. BM: How did we not get that concept in here? GS: That’s for the sequel.

[As Nathan talks to Teen Duke] BM: This is one of my favourite scenes, because like you wrote in the script, there’s this idea that they start to fall into their old high school pitter-patter of talking and the speed they’re going back and forth. They were great, they got super into it. They got a little too into it and Lee had to tell them that we couldn’t understand what they were saying any more.

GS: Ah, the Teagues! I like that they both have these old Clint Eastwood revolvers. BM: And coming up here is a stunt that Richard Donat had to pull off where he gets clubbed over the head by Dave at the end of the scene. He really did it; there was a mat on the floor for him to fall onto. People were a little concerned, not so much about the fall but because John Dunsworth, who plays Dave, was hitting him with such reckless abandon, with the prop which I think is supposed to be a brass vase, and is made of rubber but is still pretty tough. There, like I’m not sure that was a fake sound effect. But Richard was fine. GS: I thought that moment was fun because I don’t think, hopefully, that anyone saw it coming. BM: No. And we paid this scene off in season 4. GS: We do!

[As Jeanine demonstrates her Trouble] BM: This was very tough to shoot. We had to replace the plate in her hand; she had to stand there holding plates of first carrots and then cake for like 20 minutes.

GS: Audrey looks great when we dress her up.

BM: We filmed too versions of this [where Audrey asks Nathan to dance] and this is the more romantic version where he holds out his hand to her, and I’m really glad this is the one we went with. GS: And that line there was a callback to what Sarah said to Nathan, which is the final decision-making thing for him to go dance with her. BM: Great callback BM: You remember how much we had to go through to get this song? To find a song that worked and that we could get cleared to use. We listened to song after song after song. GS: Yes, we listened to a lot of mid-nineties dance songs here in the writers’ room.

[As we see Robert talking to two others in the corridor] BM: These guys were great. And one of the reasons they were so great together is that all of these actors had worked together in a bunch of plays in Toronto. So they had an instant raport.

BM: You’re about to see one other surprise we had which is that the kid who play Robbie was great, but was also ever so slightly taller than Robert. GS: Ah no one noticed.

BM: This was shot in the actual boiler room of the school. GS: This is much bigger and brighter room than I had pictured. BM: And so this boiler that shoots her in the face, we built ourselves. It was all cardboard.

GS: It would have been fun if Audrey wasn’t immune to the Troubles. We tried to figure out some way that she would turn into a teenager because we thought that would be so fun. But it was not possible. BM: Sometimes the immunity really helps us and sometimes it really hurts us.

BM: There was some controversy as we shot this [the injured Robert lying on the floor] because originally he was on a stretcher, and the EMTs were there, and then someone realised that would mean the EMTs would have to be in on the Troubles because they were going to see all this stuff happening. So that’s why he’s just on the floor here. GS: Oh good point. Although, let’s be honest, the EMTs in Haven have probably seen a lot of stuff.

[As Jeanine is talking to the injured Robert] BM: Ah this is really touching. GS: Yeah I liked this story. Finding true love after all this time.

GS: We spent a long time trying to work out a specific soda, because some of the initial suggestions we then realised hadn’t come out yet in the 80s.

[As Duke turns back to normal] BM: They were very careful there; he was wearing the exact same size wardrobe so that his clothes didn’t change when he did. GS: Yeah I remember we had a lot of wardrobe talks about how that was going to work. BM: And about this scene too [Audrey, Nathan and Duke talking in the Gull] because they’ve all changed clothes. And this obviously is going to be the wardrobe that they are wearing throughout the next episode. GS: Right because there is a lot of running around in the next episode, and so the question was, do we want Audrey in a cocktail dress to have to do everything she has to do in the next episode? BM: And also this is the last moment of calm before the storm so this scene was really heavily scrutinised. Like, what are you going to do if it’s your last night on earth? Like, maybe they would just stay and hangout; play board games. GS: That’s not what I would do on my last night on earth. BM: But they would also want to try and do anything they could to help Audrey.

GS: This was tricky because we don’t do a lot of direct pick-up episodes that are back-to-back time-wise. But this was 11, 12, and 13. And that’s part of what you were talking about earlier, about how we can’t really talk about when the reunion was, because sometimes 9 months will go by when the show is airing but maybe only 5 or 6 days has actually happened across those episodes. BM: Yeah, and there’s almost no time between 10 and 11 also. Which was why we always had to plan from the start of the season how long it was going to be until we got to the Hunter meteor storm. So we had the big board and the season mapped out with the number of days, and we had to keep changing it to make the dates line up. GS: Writers don’t like doing math. We did a lot of math on this season. And if we got any of it wrong, don’t send a letter.

[As Audrey finds Arla in her apartment] GS: This was a tricky scene for them because it was very long, a lot of exposition going on here. And it had the potential to drag. But I don’t think it did. BM: It was a four or five page scene and it’s almost all Arla talking, which is pretty hard to do. This was Laura’s first scene that she shot; we did Claire’s last scene, and then Nathan showed up, and then we did this. She never autioned for the role because she’s a very successful actress so we just asked her if she would do it. So she came in, no one really knew how it was going to go, we were a bit behind that day so there wasn’t any time to even rehearse. So, we shot the first rehearsal and - everyone applauded. She got every single line right, every single word right, and she was phenomenal. I think Emily might have actually hugged her. People were high fiving each other. GS: It’s not easy. I think one of the hardest things for guest actors coming into a series especially is that you’re shooting everything out of order. So, coming in, your first day; you get off the plane, someone puts you in wardrobe, sends you to the set and this is the first scene you have to do. That seems a little daunting. BM: Yeah. And she was struggling even with the hair extensions they put her in. That’s not all her real hair. And she said that every single thing she’s ever done, the first thing anyone ever does is just staple a ton of hair on top of her head. GS: This story of Arla’s Trouble is horrible. But we purposefully constructed it so that, she’s done all these terrible things but you hear the story behind it and you feel a bit sorry for her. BM: Yeah and we had had this in mind since before the season started. We had always been working towards this. And that she would blame Lucy, that she would mistakenly believe that it was all Lucy’s fault. GS: And she has good reason to believe that. BM: Absolutely.

BM: Laura came up to me right before her first take to ask about the scene. And I wasn’t surprised because it’s this 6 page scene and this crazy story, so I was like; Anything, what do you need? And she was like, “It’s just this one line.” So I thought this was going to be a problem because we had carefully parsed out all these details through this scene. But her point was that Arla referred to James and said she loved him, and Laura said she thought Arla would say “love him” because she’s crazy and she still loves him and thinks that he’s out there. And I almost started crying, I was like “You’re my favourite person on the planet.”

GS: The other thing here is that although that is obviously a prop gun and hollowed out, those are heavy. To hold that up for this whole scene. BM: She was great. GS: The best villans are the ones where you can see their point of view. You don’t agree with it, but you can see where they’re coming from.

GS: I love that effect where the barn appears! And every time you see Howard, you know that something huge is going to happen.

GS & BM: Thanks for listening!

#haven syfy #haven dvd commentaries #3.12 - Reunion

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oflgtfol · 3 years

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ok so!!! after waiting for a few weeks for the moon phase to cooperate, i finally got a good crescent moon going!

so last time i took my telescope out, i went during the full moon, so while it was cool to see, it was not good for pics because it washed everything out and was just a big ball of light. so i wanted to wait for a Not Full Moon so that 1. there’d be less light to wash things out and also 2. to see the darkness along the craters at the edge of the full moon

regardless, my pictures are not photogenic because i’m working with a phone camera, not professional equipment, and i am also taking the picture straight up with my camera against the lens as opposed to, whatever professional astrophotographers do

BUT! the mere fact i am able to take pictures at all is what i’m hyped about! so without further ado

here’s a pic at 35x magnification, using my 10 mm lens. it was the best pic i could get of the entire moon like that. between the shakiness of my hands as i tried to hold my camera up against the lens, and also the fact that the moon kept moving out of frame as it set, all my other pics are just passing glances of the side of the moon. yes, even at this magnification lol

so then i moved onto my 6.3 mm lens, which is my strongest at ~56x magnification. i focused mostly on the edge of the light and dark because that’s where all the cool craters are and luckily my phone was able to pick up on a lot of it!!!

also of note: you can see the unilluminated side of the moon on the left, which is super super neat.

and then just for shits and giggles i tried taking pics of the stars as well. none of them came out great, which was surprising because it was fairly dark out and the moon is not full, but alas. so anyway i finally got a decent pic of orion!

the line across the top is some electrical wires from the street lmfao. this was also not taken through my telescope, just straight up holding my phone up to the sky

i was out there for a pretty long time and my hands got really cold so. my hands are fine now but they’re still weirdly swollen and so it’s still kinda hard to type lol. i cannot WAIT till it’s warmer out so i can stand around outside for longer without dying. or maybe i’ll finally have to suck it up and start wearing gloves DX

when it gets warmer out i’m gonna try and start looking for the planets. the planets are much more challenging targets than the moon bc they’re so small, so i’ve been trying to get more familiar with my telescope by using an easy target, but i just cannot stand outside for that long trying to find something that small, not in this weather. so over the summer hopefully!!!

#i also really wanna see if my telescope is strong enough to look at nebulae #but again . i just cannot do that right now in this weather #unless maybe i specifically go out just for the nebulae #if i try it's gotta be the orion nebula cause thats the only one that i know where it is in the sky LOL #brot posts #astro posting #ALSO IT WAS SO COOL cause when i first got it in sight my parents came out and when my mom saw it for the first time #she was like 'OH WOW!!!' like she was SO excited about it and like :D!!! idk #i just love that universal experience of ppl looking thru a telescope for their first time and seeing something and getting like that

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girlbebraveus · 4 years

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Funky mobile phone accessories are a new trend, join in with these must-have items.

During these trying COVID times, your mobile phone has been your best friend in more than one way.

These devices fit in our pockets but have taken the place of so many other gadgets and products. From calculators to cameras and everything in between, we can almost do it all on our phones. Nothing is perfect though, but luckily, the ever-growing phone accessories industry makes up for any shortcomings.

Let us take a look at the best phone accessories, from the necessary to the niche, that you can get!

Comfortable High-quality Wireless Ear Buds from master & Dynamic

These true wireless earbuds top our chart here, with their beautiful design and excellent sound quality. Since it is more expensive than many others, it makes sense to splurge for them during the holidays.

True wireless earphones feature beautiful, handcrafted acetate and come with a hand-polished stainless-steel charging case to deliver a premium mobile sound tool.

Girl be Brave Mouse Pad

It is beautiful to look at and also works perfectly. Beauty and brains, a rare combination. This Girl Be Brave mouse pad is made with classic lines and bright colors. It is sure to be a favorite.

Trust Girl Be Brave to give you a gift with the purchase of this mouse pad.

iOttie easy one-touch wireless fast charge car mount

This accessory pulls double duty by charging your phone while holding it securely on the dash. The telescopic arm extends up to eight inches and pivots on a wide arc for easy readability and access.

This is a very convenient accessory to have especially when on the go.

The best multi-port wall charger RAV power two port

RaVpower charger gives a speed of 18W with the C port while with the E port, it goes at 12W.

This two-port charger will give your phone protection from being over charged or over heated. It also protects from the danger of a short circuit. It is a very light charger; it weighs only 2.8 ounces and you can carry it wherever you like.

To this you can add, a power strip by Anker. It has a five-foot-long cable which gives you the freedom to keep your charging hub in any position that you need, choosing from any port either C or A and also two more AC options.

Girl Be Brave, iPhone 10, clear phone cover.

The clear phone cover is here, for your new iPhone10 and guess who has done wonders with it, none other than Girl Be Brave!

This clear cover has Girl Be Brave written on it, in metallic golden letters. It is made up of plastic which is hard and durable.

You need to add this to your accessories and grab the attention of your friends.

Xenvo camera lens kit pro

Bring out the photographer inside you and click some beautiful landscapes or closeups. It has a 10 degree lens with a wide angle, attached with a 10x macro lens along with it. You can use this with single or with dual camera mobile phones, clicking some really amazing pictures.

The TruGrip lens will grip your phone firmly and stay in place while you prepare to click the next shot.

Girl Be Brave Faith phone wallpaper

Another gem from Girl be Brave, these inspirational wallpapers are just what you need to brighten up your day. Every time that you use your phone, you will read this beautiful motivational quote from Girl Be Brave and you are ready to face the day and shine on.

Geranium case Casetify

Most phone cases are either durable or beautiful but they are heavy. Some are not heavy, but they lack in beauty or durability. When it comes to all three together, Casetify tops the list. When you buy it, you know you are not buying anything less than what you deserve.

Anker Blue Tooth Selfie Stick

Who does not need a funky selfie stick? Something light and durable, easy to carry. Anker selfie stick is just the one for you. You can get the whole group in your photo with this selfie stick. It is very light and will last your years because of its long lasting battery.

These above-mentioned funky accessories for your phone are just what you need to feel young, footloose, and fancy-free. Go and indulge yourself in these great accessories and feel the change.

#best book #book for reading #motivational book #girl Be Brave

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thecousinsdangereux · 7 years

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prom weekend escapades! (they only wanted 1 (one) weekend not saving the world!) (via @avalencias )

That time they had to spend senior skip day saving the world. (The food in [wherever] they landed was pretty good, though. Almost made up for it.) (via @chiltongirlsdoitbetter )

When the limo pulls up into her driveway and her four fellow Rangers spill out, Kim has to admit that Jason had been right: going all out with the tailored formal wear had been a good call. And when the four of them ring the bell to her house and each present her with a small corsage (with either black, blue, red, or yellow flowers, of course) and she pins a pink boutonniere onto each of their lapels, she has to admit that Billy had been right as well: there wasn’t anything at all weird about going to Senior Prom as a fivesome.

Her parents don’t agree, of course, and are having a hard time processing the whole thing, now that her ‘dates’ have arrived (‘we thought you were dating Trini?’ they’d asked, and Kim had to give them some credit for finally getting on board with that, at least, even if her subsequent explanation had been met with blank stares). But Mrs. Cranston pulls up soon after the limo does, and she has a camera that looks like it’s on loan from National Geographic, so Kim’s mom quickly falls in line; she’s not about to be outdone on the photo front, even if she balks a little at the moment in the shoot where everyone kisses the cheek of the Ranger next to them (and is way too enthusiastic in taking pictures of the moment Kim tugs Trini to the side to whisper a few detailed compliments about the fit of the girl’s suit).

It’s all kind of perfect, which is why it all has to go wrong, as soon as all five of them are piled into the limo and trying to avoid the spray of the bottle of champagne Zack had somehow acquired and (even more impressively) gotten their driver to turn a blind-eye towards. At first, Kim doesn’t notice because she’s a bit preoccupied with the way Trini keeps casually inspecting the slit on her dress, like she’s liable to test out just how high it goes any moment now, but then Zack slams down his glass and points at Jason with accusation and Kim has to blink her pleasant fantasies away (and try to figure out exactly what she’d missed).

“No. I know that look. Jason, and no! It’s our night. No Ranger stuff. Everyone promised. After Senior Skip was ruined you promised.”

Jason looks away from his phone and… yeah, Kim knows that look as well.

“Jason…” she begins.

“I know! But… Rita’s making a play in Seattle. Zordon thinks there might be some kind of sword there that will... ”

“Lemme guess: let her destroy the world,” Trini finishes, and Jason shrugs and nods. “What, is Rita like… looking down from the moon with some kind of freaking hubble telescope? She zooms in on Prom flyers to make sure she can screw up the only cool thing Angel High ever does?”

Despite the severity of the situation, Kim has to smirk at that. “‘Cool’? That’s funny, because I remember having to do a whole lot of convincing to even get you to want to go to Prom.”

“Kim,” Trini groans. “Look at your dress. That’s going to get covered by armor.”

“And my suit,” Zack gasps. “Jason, I can’t ruin this suit. Look at me!”

“It’ll be fine.” He’s trying to be soothing, but only Billy is nodding along. “We’ll take care of this really quickly, our suits — and dress — will be fine. And we’ll be back before Prom is over, alright?”

——

This is, of course, not how things end up going.

Because it��s nearly 11:00 p.m. and they’ve had to form the megazord, which — honestly — is really more of a pain than anything else once the novelty has worn off. It’s exhausting, especially when the zords have to be teleported in, and it’s this whole production of clearing a landing zone while Putties are swarming all over the place like the cockroaches they are and Kim keeps thinking about how if Rita weren’t a total bitch, she would be dancing with Trini right now and attempting to break her record for ‘longest continuous blush in public’, so… yeah. She doesn’t exactly have a lot of patience for their stupid nemesis and her latest nefarious plot tonight.

“Five minutes. I’m giving this five more minutes, Jason, I mean it.” She punctuates the statement with a particularly brutal uppercut to the (stupid-looking) sea monster that Rita had somehow raised from the ocean depths right outside of Fremont.

Jason just sighs though. “You can’t really put a time-limit on this sort of thing, Kim.”

He’s right.

It takes them six minutes.

Trini lands the final blow and Kim breathes out a soft ‘I love you’ that definitely wasn’t meant to escape her lips during the middle of a fight with a giant octopus-lobster hybrid, but that was life as a Ranger for you.

——

But there were some upsides too.

Like sitting in a burger joint at midnight, thousands of miles from home, listening to Billy and Zack squabble over whether Nashville or Seattle has the better music scene.

“Think I should add Austin to the debate? Prove them both wrong?” Trini asks, fingers lazily trailing along the skin of Kim’s thigh (finally).

“Mmm, no, be nice.” She holds her burger up, offering Trini a bite; a bit of hollandaise sauce lands on the girl’s cheek in the process and Kim is more than happy to kiss it off, especially when it results in an unexpected (but always delightful) giggle from Trini (which she quickly smothers with an incredibly unsubtle cough).

“Told you it’d be fine,” Jason comments softly from her other side, nudging her knee with his own.

But Kim just tsks and shakes her head. “I don’t know about that. I still haven’t gotten that dance you promised. All of you still owe me a dance.”

“Well,” Billy begins, looking around the restaurant. “There’s a jukebox right over there.”

All five of them pause, exchanging a series of glances.

“I call first!” Zack shouts, scrambling over Billy to get out of the booth. “They better have my girl CRJ.”

#writing prompts #poor rangers #they just want that one night!#poor darlings #trimberly #power rangers #writing #I think I'm going to have to take a little break after this one my dudes

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robertkstone · 6 years

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2018 Nissan Kicks First Drive: Kicking Ass and Taking Sales

Just about every week it seems an automaker announces or reveals a new vehicle or puts a new spin on an old vehicle that millennials will just love. Even the pitches that aren’t tone-deaf are usually met with the same eye-rolling response: many millennials are saddled with debt and working a job beneath their education because it’s all they could get. Given enough chances, it was only a matter of time before an automaker actually hit the target, and Nissan may have done it.

Buying the base model of an entry-level car used to mean you couldn’t even get power windows or door locks, and it wasn’t that long ago Bluetooth and automatic headlights were restricted to pricier trim levels. Rear cameras only became standard this year because the government mandated it. Things are getting better for the value shopper in general as customers expect more from their vehicles, but the 2018 Nissan Kicks takes it a big step forward.

The 2018 Kicks’ standard features read like a list of things you normally wish you could get as options on a base model. Automatic emergency braking and forward collision alert. Automatic headlights. Three USB ports (more than some competitors offer, period, let alone on a base model). Tilting and telescoping steering wheel. Automatic up/down front windows. Keyless entry and push-button starte. A 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth phone and streaming audio. All of that for $18,965.

If you can scrape a few more pennies together, though, it’s worth an extra month of eating ramen for the midgrade SV model. The 2018 Kicks SV picks up an upgraded infotainment system (still a 7.0-inch touchscreen) with CarPlay and Android Auto and satellite radio, automatic climate control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic monitoring, a cargo cover, remote engine starting, and alloy wheels for $20,665 all said and done.

Unless you really want LED headlights and a surround-view camera system, skip past the $21,265 SR trim, as it’s mostly cosmetic, though it does add a few lines of software to the engine and chassis computers that are supposed to make it handle a little better. If you’re going to splurge anyway, beg, borrow, or steal the extra $1,000 and get the loaded SR with the Premium package. To the SR niceties it adds nice faux-leather seats with heaters up front, a security system, and a phenomenal Bose Personal Plus eight-speaker stereo.

Let’s take a moment to talk about this stereo. You’re lucky if you can even get a “premium” stereo upgrade in a car that maxes out at $22,265 before accessories, and it usually just takes you from “it plays music” to “this sounds decent.” The Bose stereo in this Kicks, no joke, sounds better than the base stereo in a $180,000 Bentley Bentayga. Play an uncompressed audio file off your phone, and marvel at the clarity of the individual instruments and the breadth of the sound stage, then remind yourself this is a $22,000 car. Part of the trick is a pair of speakers in the driver’s head rest, which are there to manipulate the stage, not blow out your eardrums, though you can hear a difference if you turn your head all the way to the right or left. The stereo can be adjusted to focus sound at the driver when you’re alone in the car, but personally, I preferred the panoramic setting and its recording-studio feel.

If the SR Premium package really would break the bank, though, rest assured the base stereo is actually pretty good, too.

Fitting all these features into this price point did require decisions on Nissan’s part, some tough and some curious. For example, rear parking sensors, a Rockford Fosgate subwoofer, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and ambient interior lighting are all either stand-alone accessories or a small accessories package rather than rolled into a trim level or larger package. The upshot here is you can buy exactly what matters to you.

In other cases, though, you’re left hanging. Because the Kicks shares a platform with the Versa and Versa Note, all-wheel drive is not available. Nissan also opted against a navigation option, so your phone will have to suffice when service permits. Adaptive cruise control is also off the menu despite the automatic emergency braking system using a radar module and adaptive cruise only requiring some code and a steering wheel button. If you’d like any of this, you’ll need to step up to the more expensive Rogue Sport.

If you can live without all-wheel drive, however, there’s a lot to like about the way the Kicks drives. A 1.6-liter I-4 with a CVT driving the front wheels is your only option, and despite offering an underwhelming 125 hp and 115 lb-ft, it’s much better than it sounds. Nissan’s got an ace up its sleeve, and it’s a claimed curb weight under 2,700 pounds (200 to 500 pounds less than competitors). I’d estimate its 0–60 time around 9.0 to 9.5 seconds, which puts it in line with the Honda HR-V and Subaru Crosstrek and well ahead of the Toyota C-HR. Critically, the Kicks always feels like it’s trying. This engine delivers a sense of urgency that’s absent from the C-HR, and it doesn’t struggle with hills at freeway speeds like the HR-V does. Yeah, like the rest of them, it’s still slow, but you don’t feel like you need to floor it to avoid being run over. When you do floor it, the Kicks feels like it’s actually moving.

Part of this is thanks to new transmission software that finally whips Nissan’s CVT into shape. The rubber-band feel associated with some CVTs is gone, and when you really get into the gas pedal it automatically begins simulating shifts. It’s much more like the class-leading CVTs from Honda and Subaru—and finally not a liability. On top of that, it facilitates best-in-class EPA-rated fuel economy across the board at 31/36/33 mpg city/highway/combined.

Paired up with the eager-to-please drivetrain, the variable steering rack doesn’t feel variable; it gives you linear and predictable steering response in corners with a nice weight to it. The same can be said of the brake pedal. All of your inputs are met with the exact response you’d expect from them, which makes the Kicks very pleasant to drive. In the city, the super tight U-turn radius is handy, and the surprisingly flat body control makes it fun to hustle. The tires have more grip than you’d expect and don’t make any noise even when you’re pushing them, though they do get loud on a concrete freeway.

However you plan to drive it, you’ll appreciate the large windows and the excellent outward visibility they provide. It’s great Nissan offers blind-spot monitoring and a surround-view camera system, but it’s even better they don’t feel like mandatory equipment, as on some cars with their gun-slit windows. Up front, the cabin feels big and airy, especially for such a small vehicle. There’s tons of leg- and headroom up there, but the space around the driver’s knee is cramped. My right knee was always touching the center console. The rear seat is more cramped, especially for the long-legged. The cargo area is surprisingly large and still fits a space-saver spare tire. Unfortunately, the second row doesn’t fold flat, leaving you a two-level expanded cargo space.

The rest of the interior is what you’d expect for a sub-$23,000 car. It’s all plastic, unless you get an SR with its nice stitched faux-leather wrap on the dash. The quality of the plastic is fine, as is fit and finish. The design is mostly inoffensive, though the door panels are big black slabs with a single trim piece to liven them up. Enjoy all the headroom, and don’t look up at the mouse fur headliner and retro ’90s map light console.

Nissan calls the Kicks stylish and hip and says the kids will love it, but here’s the straight talk: The Kicks is surprisingly well-equipped with features you actually want, and it boasts killer fuel economy. If all-wheel drive isn’t a must-have, it’s hard to come up with another compelling reason to keep the Kicks off your shopping list.

IFTTT

#IFTTT #PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

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Nikon’s 83x-optical-zooming Coolpix P900 is insane

Say hello to a really big lens.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

Its all about that lens.

There is no way to talk about Nikons excellent, though occasionally frustrating, Coolpix P900 super zoom camera without first addressing the lens.

This wide-angle, telephoto wonder can, at 24mm, pull in a startling amount of visual information. At 2,000mm, it can pluck the moon from the sky.

Its a stunning level of versatility rarely found in a fixed-lens camera.

SEE ALSO: Nikon D810A is the ideal camera for taking stellar photos of the stars

As a result, the 16-megapixel Nikon Coolpix P900 is an excellent shooter in a wide variety of scenarios. Itll handle the portrait as well as the nature photo, and the action shot as well as the, well, moon shot.

It does all this despite having an image sensor that, at 1 2/3 inches, is smaller than competing super-zoom cameras (the size of a sensor defines how much light a camera can bring in).

24 mm

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

2000 mm

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

Nikon released the Coolpix P900 back in 2015, but it remains their most powerful super-zoom offering. Nikon sells it for $599.95, but you can find it online for under $500, which is an amazing deal.

Despite its many months on the market, most people I spoke to (even pro-level photographers) were unaware that theres an 83x optical zoom camera on the market and would marvel as I electronically extended the lens three inches from the Nikon Coolpix P900s relatively compact 3.18-ounce body. And they were equally stunned when I showed them some of the pictures I took without using a tripod.

However, actual pros will likely look elsewhere when they learn they cant shoot RAW still images or 4K video (it tops out at 1080p full HD at 60 fps).

Many consumers, though, dont care to work in RAW (because theyre not manipulating images in a photo editor) and do not even own a 4K-capable computer monitor or TV to showcase all those pixels.

The basics

Best described as a prosumer, super-zoom camera, the P900 offers virtually all the automatic and manual controls you would want on a big-lens camera. In addition to automatic shooting, you can choose aperture- or shutter-priority, fully manual, saved settings, scenes (like action/sports), and effects. The latter are akin to the filters you find in your favorite mobile phone shooting apps and are best avoided.

You can shoot through the electronic viewfinder or the flip-out, 3-inch monitor. Though I grew up using optical viewfinders on classic DSLRs, Ive gotten used to shooting through the monitor. The one on my Sony Alpha NEX-5 tilts up and down, which lets me raise the camera above my head and see over obstacles to get my shot. The Nikon Coolpix P900s monitor, which flips out and away from the camera body, is much more versatile. I can tilt it up and down or rotate it 180 degrees to face front, which is super useful for selfies and vlogging.

A good look at the 3-inch monitor and P900’s controls.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

I wish the monitor was touchscreen, but I got used to always using the cameras triad of dials to adjust settings and the zoom rocker to zoom in on playback photos. My other frustration with the monitor was that even though I could adjust the viewing angle pretty much any way I wanted, the screen would often black out at the most inopportune times. To get around this, I usually had to put the screen perpendicular to the lens. If I got too frustrated, I simply switched to the electronic viewfinder, which automatically turns on when I put my eye near it.

I have yet to find a prosumer camera thats fully figured out the best way to handle adjusting manual settings. The Coolpix P900 splits shutter and aperture controls between two dials about an inch and a half apart. The shutter speed dial can be hard to adjust when youre gripping the camera with your right hand and have your finger positioned over the shutter button (or resting on the zoom control).

Store and more

The P900 stores images and video on SD cards, but is also Wi-Fi enabled. When coupled with Nikons poorly named WMU or Wireless Mobile Utility App (iOS or Android), you can take photos through your phone or view and transfer images already on the cameras SD card.

Transferring photos from the camera to your phone is an awkward, multi-step process that I did a lot because I loved posting the Coolpix P900 photos on Instagram.

With the zoom fully extended, the Nikon Coolpix P900 is 9-inches from the front to the back.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

To transfer images, you first hit the menu button on the camera, navigate to the wireless symbol and choose connect to smart device. On the phone, you open your Wi-Fi settings and connect to the Nikon camera. After that, you open the WMU app and then select Pictures on Camera. After that, downloading images is self-explanatory, but that convoluted step-by-step process must be repeated every single time.

Those frustrations aside, I have never been so in love with a lens.

The lens (f/2.8-6.5 and 4.3-to-357mm, which is 24-2,000mm in a 35mm equivalent) slowly telescopes in and out with a toggle switch surrounding the shutter, and the zoom control on the side of the lens.

Its not just that the lens gets you optically 83 times closer to your subjectits how it does it.

The Flatiron at no zoom.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

Try seeing this detail with the naked eye.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

A zoom that large will also amplify minute vibrations in your hand, which usually means that, at maximum zoom, youll need a tripod. The Coolpix P900, though, includes excellent vibration-reduction technology inside the lens, which helps it lock onto subjects, even ones that are 238,900 miles away.

Repeatedly, I would rest my arms on my chest or find a pole to lean on to shoot objects hundreds or even thousands of feet away. I was honestly shocked at how well the Coolpix kept things in frame.

The Nikon Coolpix P900 lens made this moon shot possible.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

Found this tiny wonder atop a flagpole in the middle of Union Square in NYC.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

I used it to shoot the top of the World Trade Center and people enjoying an afternoon of sightseeing on the Empire State Buildings observation deck. There is a digital zoom that electronically gets you to 4,000mm. I tried it, but, from my perspective, the image quality doesnt compare to the 83x optical zoom.

The top of the Freedom Tower at 83x.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

Hello, Empire State Building dwellers. We see you.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

As much as I loved the zoom. I was equally impressed at how well the Coolpix P900 handled action shots (I used the “Scenes” mode to let it autodetect and adjust the settings) and even flash photography. I usually avoid using the flash at all costs, but during one very dimly lit party, I was truly pleased with how the Coolpix P900 handled these shots. Nothing was blown out and the colors all looked natural.

This is also an excellent wide-angle shooter. I was pleasantly surprised at how, when zoomed all the way back (meaning 24mm), how much of a scene I could pull in without visible distortion around the edges of the frame. The camera is also a speedy auto-focuser, which is a good thing because manual focus control is kind of terrible. To manually adjust focus, you use the tiny Rotary Multi-selector. I would really prefer a focus ring on the lens.

The Nikon Coolpix P900 can easily capture action without a flash…

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

…and with a flash.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

The only thing thats a little too slow for my taste is the speed of the zoom. Im used to a manual, 200mm zoom lens that I extend instantly by hand. At first, waiting almost five seconds for the P900s motor to fully extend the 83x lens felt tedious, but I soon got over it and basked in the pleasure of the most powerful zoom lens I have ever used.

As for video, it looks good and the stereo microphone is sensitive.

You can find more megapixels, bigger sensors and maybe better software, but I challenge you to find a better deal for this much zoom. The lens on Nikons Coolpix P900 is truly unforgettable.

Nikon Coolpix P900

The Good

Spectacular 83x optical zoom lens Great wide-angle shooter Great action shooter Great price

The Bad

Convoluted Wi-Fi downloads Balky monitor

The Bottom Line

An amazing super-zoom lens on a good camera and at an amazing price.

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