Monthly Archives: January 2010

Jan 05 2010
Uncategorized

Photography

Kind of doing and not doing the 365 photos this year.

What I am doing is picking a lens each month and sticking with it for the duration.  There may be an exception, for instance, if I have to do portrait photography, I will switch to the appropriate lens—but for walking around, I’m picking a prime and then sticking with it.

My reasoning behind this is that I hope to relearn exposure and composition by getting rid of the zoom phenomenon.  With a fixed focal length, I can focus on aperture, exposure, ISO settings, and the actual composition of the shot.  This way I hope to reinforce some good habits.

Double check the settings before I shoot.  Don’t be too far from the subject.  Composition before I take the shot.  Proper breathing when I hit the shutter.  It’s already a lot to think about, but at least focal length isn’t an issue to think about any more.  I know that with the 52mm, what I see is what I’m going to be able to get.  Next month, I’ll bump to 75mm and then the month after that, I’ll bring it down to 35mm.  Each month, I hope to learn more about the abilities and quirks of each focal length and take a look at the settings for each photo in the lighting conditions.  This way I can see what works and what doesn’t work.

I’ll try to shoot everyday and post the pictures that I’m most happy with and maybe some that I’m not.

Jan 04 2010
Games

Dragon Age: Updates

I almost hate to admit it but I may have reached that quitting point about six hours into Dragon Age: Origins.

Spoiler alert.  You may want to not read this.  For courtesy’s sake, I’m putting in a cut and all story related issues will be afterwards.

It’s not that I dislike Dragon Age: Origins.  In fact, I really like the decision making.  They have done a great job with setting up options that do not fall into the Moralistic Good and Diabolically Evil categories.  Most of the time, they merely present you with possible solutions.

And it’s hard to say where the paths will lead.  Sure, you could solve a problem the most expedient way, but there may have to be sacrifices.  Alternatively, you could solve the problem in a Chantry approved fashion and, well, there may still have to be sacrifices, but at least you did it in such a way that the Maker approves.

I applaud them for that.  It makes the virtual decisions feel like they have true impact in the virtual world.

All right.  It’s going to get very “in game” with terms and story so don’t continue if you’ve got a thing for spoilers.

Continue reading →

Jan 03 2010
Uncategorized

Geeky time

Star Blazers is the name of the US release of Space Battleship Yamato.  It’s a show that I remember fondly mainly for the space battles, which were important for me as an eight year old boy.  I guess I missed out on most of heavier elements of the story, but I clearly remember the wave motion cannon and the Black Tiger fighter plane squadron.

The US was in a very different place then in terms of dealing with foreign media, because they bowldlerized it to heck and back.  They even changed the name of the show to avoid the whole WWII reference.

Which is a far cry today, where there’s fan outcry if they get the subtitles wrong.  To be fair, a lot of fans are getting the high definition broadcasts with high quality translations over the grey market two days after broadcast in Japan.  It’s understandable if they’re a bit snippy when the DVD they’ve legally purchased contains a lower definition picture and subtitles that are outright wrong.  I guess I should slash soapbox here but it’s just the way it is.

But back to StarBlazers, or rather Space Battleship Yamato.  Today, I found this.

I just want to see it.

I guess I’m a sucker for a crossing the desert depths of space in search of the promised land space vaccuum macguffin story

Jan 02 2010
Uncategorized

Travel

The icy, biting wind is all I’m thinking about as I’m waiting on the platform.  Idly, my hand drops to the D70 and I then I’m thinking about the icy biting wind and the camera’s operational temperature range.

A few minutes later the wind picks up even more and then I’m wondering about my operational temperature range.

It is officially that “spouting profanity” level of cold.

Jan 01 2010
Uncategorized

James Cameron's Avatar

I’m going to be straight with you.  It’s kind of like Ferngully mixed with Dances With Wolves and some political commentary that ended up being TOO SUBTLE.

When the phrase, “shock and awe” is uttered, I half expected the actors to pause and look at the camera with a sly nod and a wink.  Ultimately, I couldn’t decide which country they were talking about.  I thought maybe Japan, since there were giant robots in the movie.  Whichever one it is, it’s the one that apparently blows up indigenous peoples because they happen to live on some incredibly valuable natural resources.  Also, the stuff is called—and I kid you not—”Unobtanium.”

As in, they were unable to obtain a better name for it.

I guess other names such as, “Dependenceonforeignoilium,” or “Petroleumite” didn’t test well with the focus groups.  We also don’t even know what it’s used for.  All we are told is that it’s worth a lot of “cheddar.”  I mean, I don’t know if it’s a fuel source that the rest of the galaxy depends on or it’s just a metal that’s just expensive because it is fucking hard to get.

Very visually impressive, but the whole story depends so deeply on the “Mighty Whitey” trope that it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’ve seen it before.  In fact, if you’ve watched Dances With Wolves or The Last Samurai, you already know what happens to the main character in Avatar.

The only differences are the really impressive eye candy and the copious explosions.

That and the blue skinned alien love scene wherein I was starting to feel awkward when it went on for just a bit too long.

Interesting and fun to watch, I was most impressed with the wildlife in the movie.  You only get to see a few of the creatures integral to the plot, but throughout the movie you get to see various creatures running around.  The jungle of Pandora has a definite feel, it has presence.  When you watch the film and see how the fauna and the flora work together, you see that the folks behind Avatar have mapped out an entire alien ecosystem.

I’m glad that I watched the movie to see this aspect of its design.

That, and robots fighting, although that’s really only at the end of the film.

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