[DavidSKAF3]

I received a curious letter from Ricoh Pentax this afternoon. It says I have been randomly selected as an innocent newbie, in so many words, to receive, free of charge, some sort of a new prototype Pentax DSLR that is close to being released, just as soon as a few last kinks are resolved or something. It says they chose me because I'm not a pithy, jaded, irreverent zealot or something. They just want a decent, honest regular guy with a general interest in photography whose learning curve will be representative of the general public. Then it goes on to say that they got my identity and particulars when I registered my new K-5 a couple of weeks ago.


So! This new experimental camera hasn't come yet, but I'm hoping it will turn out to be fun and interesting when it arrives! The letter says this model is truly a first for Pentax, because it has a some sort of big, new image sensor. But I dunno. Sensor, schmensor! I mean, what do I know? Up until only very recently I've always been a PowerShot superzoom kinda guy!


Anyway, I'm supposed to just go ahead use it like any other camera, along with some "HD" lenses they're also going to be including, and then take notes and forward my impressions of the camera each week to some non-descript mailbox in Fukuoka or Hokkaido, Japan, somewheres.The address they gave me has the word "Chome" in it. That's all I really know. Maybe "Chome" is a Japanese zip code or something? Anyway. You guys should see the stamp on the envelope they provided for my first report! It's got an upside-down bi-plane on it, and it looks like it was autographed by Elvis! This is the most exciting thing that's happened to me since that night I saw those bright lights coming at me from the sky when I was camping near Roswell!


But the letter stressed that I am "please to kindly not to discuss this trial" with anyone, especially any current Pentax users. You guys got any clue what this might be about?

My contact is "Mr. Takahashi".

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Last edited by DavidSKAF3; 12-26-2013 at 06:15 PM.

[dansamy]

I'd say it's about 4 months too early.

[Na Horuk]

Well that certainly sounds fun. Can you verify that contact/person? Find out some information about them online, call Pentax HQ to find out if its the real deal. Either way, Pentax should be able to tell you if this is the real deal. And if its a scam, its also right that they know about it.

[jatrax]

"please to kindly not to discuss this trial" with anyone, especially any current Pentax users.

Looks like you just failed.

And yeah, I think you are about 4 months too early...................

[amoringello]

How much do you need to pay to get this into your possession (paid via cash-card, wire-transfer or bitcoin)? :-)
Or do you simply need to supply such innocuous information like your social security number and mother's maiden name?

Dunno, sounds pretty scam-ish to me.

[DavidSKAF3]

How much do you need to pay to get this into your possession (paid via cash-card, wire-transfer or bitcoin)? :-)
Or do you simply need to supply such innocuous information like your social security number and mother's maiden name?

Dunno, sounds pretty scam-ish to me.

Okay, guys, I thought this post would read so over-the-top that it would be clear that I am just kidding around. I am just kidding around!


Heck, a guy can daydream, can't he? If only it were so! Really I was just trying to be amusing!


So! Anybody wanna invest in the development of a movie along these lines? Maybe there's an entertaining story possibility here. Maybe George Clooney can play the part of me! And maybe that guy who played Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid could be "Mr. Takahashi"?


And then maybe the plot could lead up to me and somebody glamorous like Beyoncé fighting off and stopping a bunch of scary, mean bad guys from taking over the secret R&D facility on Pentax Island, or something like that? And of course Beyoncé should have to do all this in a bikini for some inexplicable reason, and with a hairdo that never gets messed up.


Anyway. Sorry fellas.


My sincere apologies if you were truly mislead! Thought it would get a laugh for being such obvious BS! And why ever would some bald-headed old geezer with a short attention span like me ever be deemed the chosen one? That's a laugh right there!


Dave S
BFA Creative Writing
Emerson College '82

[DavidSKAF3]

How much do you need to pay to get this into your possession (paid via cash-card, wire-transfer or bitcoin)? :-)
Or do you simply need to supply such innocuous information like your social security number and mother's maiden name?

Dunno, sounds pretty scam-ish to me.

Actually I am supposed to leave $2,000 cash in a plain paper bag on a bench halfway down the west platform at Track 34 at Pennsylvania Station in New York City at exactly three o'clock and walk away. Then, a few days later, I should expect the camera to arrive at my home by Federal Package Express Service with signature confirmation.


When the trial period is over, the letter says I will get the money back, plus a $1,000 bonus. And it also says if I do really good it might even be raised to a $1,250 bonus! I'm really excited! I'm checking the next train schedule to New York City right now...

[photolady95]

Well, you're not The Chosen One because that's Harry Potter. LOL But you did have a few going before you declared it a joke. I laughed. And I don't laugh easy enough these days. So thanks for the laugh David.

[crewl1]

I knew it was for real when you mentioned the lights in the sky at Roswell because I worked on a secret government project there.

[DavidSKAF3]

I knew it was for real when you mentioned the lights in the sky at Roswell because I worked on a secret government project there.

Oh yeah! Did I mention that the bonus will also include a Honus Wagner baseball card, and the actual blue diamond necklace the old lady threw off the ship at the end of Titanic, and my choice of any of the old, mothballed airliners stored at that desert airfield near Tucson? I'm thinking Pan Am 747 here...


Or a Concorde! Yeah! That's the ticket! I could take all the forum members on an afternoon photo shoot to Machu Picchu, and have everybody back home in time for supper! I mean, unless one of you has a better destination in mind! And by the way, none of you guys better pocket anything from my personal Pentax Concorde, like a coaster or a safety instructions card. That stuff is all collectable!

[jbondo]

Perhaps Relevant:
Poe's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Betteridge's law of headlines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for the attempt at humor, though.

[DavidSKAF3]

Perhaps Relevant:
Poe's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Betteridge's law of headlines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for the attempt at humor, though.

Now that is some *awesome* if *humbling* information. Thanks for sharing these links! I read both! Hey, those guys were on to Internet confusion intention misinterpretation theories and stuff, all the way back in the 70's, huh!


But you know, it doesn't account for the successful conveyance of humor throughout literature, long before the CRT and LCD! Certainly people reasoned that Thurber or Twain were kidding around within a few paragraphs, no? And without smileys!

But of course I am not Thurber or Twain. Not hardly!


Happy New Year!

[Rupert]

Hmmm....Sounds like that damn Otis is up to his tricks again! When you get the next letter saying they are shipping it, but need a cash deposit, you had better get with me for some guidance....fast!!! The last time Otis did something like this, we didn't hear from him for months....only Postcards from the Caribbean with "wish you were here" messages.

Regards!

[Adam G]

Chome 丁目 is an allotment, an addressing subdivision.

[DavidSKAF3]

Chome 丁目 is an allotment, an addressing subdivision.

Thanks Adam!