So once again we're presenting this traditional way of ringing in the new year: A page full of evidence of the time we wasted last year. But take heart, because the amount of time the rest of the PDML spent crafting these pithy gems pales beside the amount of time I wasted compiling them for this page. It's just my way of contributing to the decline of western civilization. You can thank me later.

As usual, the quotations are listed in the order in which they were posted to the Pentax-Discuss Mailing List. Approximately. One has to take into account the vagarities of email propagation, the often random order in which I read posts and the fact that I often don't read the list for days or weeks at a stretch. So sue me. (My off-list time — often known as "work" — is also a reason there are undoubtedly many good quips that didn't make the list. That and killfiles.) Oh yes, and the first and last items on the list are always chosen specifically for their suitability to serve as bookends for this annual compilation, no matter when they were posted during the year.

If you're particularly taken with any of these bon mots, drop me a note to suggest it for a t-shirt design for our PDML Cafe Press shop.

But, as Marty DiBergi said in This is Spinal Tap, "Enough of my yakkin'". Here's the list:

Shite, the last time I scored was back in 2005... Or was it 2004? Anyway, just once in 5 years - not good enough.

— Boris Liberman (Talking about getting a quotation on this list. I think.)

Dude. Seriously. You have to stop drinking. I think you spelled everything right in that post.

— Scott Loveless

The only choice is to clone it out, or consider it 'art'.

— Bill Owens

If that's not a t-shirt I'm a banana.

— Cotty

I agree with Cotty. Now that is worrisome.

— Rick Womer

I think he's amusing, in an 'Amy Winehouse on smack' sort of way.

— Frank Theriault

When border guards ask you questions, like 'What is the purpose of your visit, sir?', you should always reply 'Why don't you mind your own f^cking business, infidel?'

— Bob Walkden

Feedback is appreciated. Ego strokes are cherished.

— Scott Loveless

Take a slightly blurry pic, convert to mono, add noise (grain) and contrast, sharpen the gonads out of it, and call it art.

— Cotty

Canadians tend to commit their crimes in private.

— Bill Robb

I would be looking forward to a long, hot bath and some nipple adjustment.

— Mike Wilson

If I could remember the question, I am sure I would have substantive answer.

— John Graves

I did a search using the Dave Brooks spelling method and got no hits at all.

— Bill Robb

While one can never have too many lenses, at some point one can have a ridiculous number of them.

— Bill Robb

I might emigrate to Bhutan and become a goat.

— Cotty

Between insults, I sometimes find time to take a picture or two.

— Bill Robb

A real photographer is never happier than when hunched over beside a busy thoroughfare in a third-world country being splashed with gutter contents while switching one exotic prime lens for another.

— Tim Bray

Perhaps I'm flawed. Can I still hang out with you guys?

— Christine Aguila

Drive to Birmingham (shudder), be treated worse than a swine with blue tongue disease, have my wallet raped and pillaged, all for a sample pack of inkjet paper?

— Mike Wilson

I screamed like a little girl

— Dave Brooks

My 6x7 is digital, after you buy the accessory film scanner

— Dave Mann

The road to PDML is paved with good intentions.

— Bob Walkden

I'm just glad I wasn't paying for the helicopter

— Adam Maas

I guess sucking has its advantages

— Dave Brooks

Fractal goodness

— Derby Chang

That's the best armadillo story I've ever read.

— Bob Walkden

You mean my Holga is now obsolete, and I need to upgrade?

— Mat Maessen

Because I'm a bastard.

— Bob Walkden

I have a MZ-S, a *ist D, DS, K10D and a very understanding wife.

— Steve Desjardins

I figure if someone wants to pay me to be a journalist, I'm a journalist. Until then, I go for the esthetically pleasing whenever possible.

— Bill Robb

In most cases, bokeh is a function of what's back there rather than how the lens renders it.

— Paul Stenquist

I decided that while one can never have too many lenses, having more than one fisheye was just silly.

— Bill Robb

Calibrating a monitor with software is like measuring a car's speed by licking a finger and sticking it out the window.

— Rick Womer

OK I admit. I had a set of green suede Beatle boots.

— Dave Brooks

You're asking a two year old to interpret Kafka when you set the camera to AWB.

— Doug Franklin

He may have two points, but I don't like the last one, so lets pretend we did not read that one.

— Tim Øsleby

Ya know, maybe Leica was right. They never put auto focus on their M or R cameras. When the focus is off, it's not their fault. And no one can complain about how fast the cameras focus either.

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

I know as soon as I get the 31 or the 35 the DA*30 will come out and it will be able to resolve coffee shops on Mars using only psychic emanations. Not that I fret over such things.

— Steve Desjardins

Collectors are white pipe-smoking males in their fifties. The rest are retards.

— Lucas Rijnders

The use of zooms reeks of moral turpitude.

— Bob Walkden

If civilization falls, there wouldn't be any more donuts and we wouldn't need the roads anyway.

— Steve Desjardins

Worse yet, do you end up with photographs that have to be explained?

— Doug Brewer

They're bending over so far to be cool that they've disappeared up their own bags and turned themselves inside out.

— Bob Walkden (referring to the badly designed web site of a camera bag maker)

Missing an opportunity is much worse for me than not having the best optical quality

— Jos from Holland

I tend to be a prime guy from a theoretical perspective.

— Adam Maas

I've tried 3 different things, none work, and reading the documentation is like eating raw frogs in a swamp.

— Rick Womer

Holy shit! That's one of the most amazing shots I've seen posted to this list (barring my cormorant of course).

— Christian Skoftland

Never let the pursuit of purity stand between you and a good image.

— John Francis

Take pictures. Stop reading.

— Paul Stenquist

Where are the nekkid pics?

— Scott Loveless

For once, I must agree with Norm.

— Frank Theriault

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

— Norm Baugher

No questions are stupid, though some answers may be.

— Jostein Øksne

Photography is experiential.

— Marnie aka Doe

FEISOL expects to offer faithful to passion and creativity and any other's impossible on the product

— Feisol (tripod manufacturer) web site: www.feisol.com/english/feisolen.htm

Wow, Bill. You're an evil bastard. I love you, man.

— Scott Loveless

If you are into phone sex you may want to skip this one, it might spoil the magic...

— Fernando

If I don't see a donkey carrying a TV when I'm there I shall be mightily pissed off!

— Bob Walkden

It's always a good sign when I get to the end of a gallery and click madly hoping there is more.

— Derby Chang

The market is mostly ruled by talks, not by needs.

— Dario Bonazza

I will humbly accept your hatred, sir. :-)

— Jostein Øksne

Needs rotating 90 deg. Either way.

— Cotty

Be prepared for utter nonsense.

— Jack Davis

I'm with the dog on this one.

— Bob Walkden

The average North American picture consumer has the photographic education of a gnat, and usually was standing at the counter with a diaper bag in one hand and a diaper filler in the other.

— Bill Robb

Tilt them sideways, call them 'pop art' and sell them for an absurd price.

— Bob Blakely

Nekkid wimmen would be best. But I'll take whatever you can muster.

— Scott Loveless

Show us yer puffins.

— Cotty

I have kitten pictures, and I’m not afraid to use them.

— Doug Brewer

I'm the sort that tends to break things (hence my interest in entropy)

— Steve Desjardins

The sky falls regularly. Just carry a hardhat or sturdy umbrella, and keep shooting.

— Rick Womer

Damn... Sitting home testing my AF may just be a waste of time!

— Joseph McAllister

I know nothing about this subject, but I won't let that stop me pontificating.

— Bob Walkden

I like to take close-ups of things I don't really want to get that close to.

— John Sessoms

No reason to put on pants in the morning if I don't have to.

— Matthew Hunt

I guess I'm kinda color blind. Maybe this explains why I liked Kodachrome slides so much.

— Bob Sullivan

As I always say, don't use flash in drunken street photos.

— Dave Brooks

If I were you I'd keep the body and one favourite lens, if only for something to grip with much nostalgia when you eventually succumb to long periods sitting and dribbling.

— Cotty

I have many other pictures blurred in the 'traditional' way.

— Jaume Lahuerta

They all look a bit fuzzy on my monitor. Oh wait, the cat just moved.

— Dave Brooks

What a good travel photographer is supposed to do is show us something different that opens the eyes of the tourists as well as the residents.

— Bob Walkden

Had I been using film, Kodak stockholders would have been dancing in the streets.

— Rick Womer

Strange things happen: I agree with Bill.

— Dario Bonazza

If I had a full-frame sensor, the tops of people's heads wouldn't be cut off.

— Matthew Hunt

I'm home with a really bad cold, but I guess it's better than being home with a really bad lover.

— Christine Aguila

It did come down a lot, but that still doesn't mean I can afford it. ;)

— John Celio

Frank Theriault, the Charles Atlas of street photography.

— Mike Wilson

I got off about 20 frames, but, you know, folks blinked, and I missed focus, and the cat attacked me.

— Christine Aguila

Since every one else beat me to the boob jokes, I'll comment on the photo.

— Dave Brooks

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, the question of B&W vs. Colour isn't an abstract aesthetic issue, it's just a matter of whether it's raining or not.

— Tim Bray

Almost anything on this list can be misconstrued in a lurid way.

— Rick Womer

No actual cormorants should be harmed in the production of this book.

— Christian Skoftland

This list is composed predominantly of grumpy old men, whose attractiveness will not improve by eschewing clothing.

— John Sessoms

I hadn't thought of that, but my mind isn't in the gutter:-)

— Paul Stenquist

People seem to think I shouldn't be worried about a chocolate-covered dog.

— Bob Walkden

Normal paragraphs or my paragraphs?

— Doug Brewer

I'm really a mild, very happy guy . A while back there was a time when I thought I was angry, but I was wrong. It was merely homicidal rage.

— Bob Blakely

I will go and join Doug Brewer's therapy group for excessive-compulsive use of commas.

— Jostein Øksne

Well, either you have an incredibly dirty sensor, or it is snowing!

— Bruce Dayton

The only reason I still do films is because my wife would leave me alone if she knows that I am in the darkroom.

— Pasvorn Boonmark

Be grateful for the pixel-peepers. They've worried about this stuff so you don't have to.

— Matthew Hunt

Of course, if Adobe had put these tasks in a menu, OR had documentation that was worth more than a maggot-ridden turd, I would have known this before I started.

— Rick Womer

If gives you enjoyment doing it, toys & tools are the same thing.

— John Sessoms

Very good indeed. Now don't do it again.

— Dave Brooks

Making the PDML quotations list is like winning the Special Olympics: It doesn't mean we can compete with the pros, and it would probably be better if we didn't qualify.

— Bob Blakely

Other years:
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003