Recently I had the opportunity to finally get a pocket camera of acceptable quality, all while not much larger than a mobile phone a couple of years ago. In this warm climate the perfect thing to put in your khakis. One of the things I had been looking at for a long time was a camera with the opportunity to record 720p movies and after several months of doubting, I settled for a Sony DSC-W390, a 14.1 megapixel camera with panorama sweep and 720p HD video recording.
One detail which might put doubters off is that the USB standard camera won’t output 720p video to your TV or media player but for me that was no issue because I can connect to my Sony HDTV or PS3 via USB (card reader) and generally have all my video on a network drive anyway.
But that’s rambled enough. You obviously want to see how the 720p recording quality is. Here’s a minute of today’s Tour de France stage, recorded live in 720p with fine settings. The TV broadcast is upscaled digital TV quality, transmitted via IP.
When I intoduced this site in the opening post I said things such as “If you like good stuff”. But I also said “eclectic”, so it’s a thin line we’re walking. To be honest I’m just trying to make up excuses to list this film, because it probably was the first movie ever I liked. And I was 11 when I saw it. 11 and a follower, a wannabe. Of course I wanted to be a jet pilot and would even become one, the first man in my family who wore a uniform AND was a pilot. My destiny if it weren’t for some stupid allergies discovered during the medical some years later when I applied for the Belgian Cadet School.
Needless to say that I loved the movie and knew every move of Kelly McGillis by heart. Shut it, you’ve been a stupid 11-year old kid too! And to be honest, I still love occasionally watching this film, enough even to have gotten myself the US import on BD, just because this film is a sacrilege bring some hours of easy entertainment certainly better than 98% of the crap which is released nowadays. Read more
I remember that I was looking forward to this movie when it was announced, but finally I never made it to the theatre and that not just because I loathe paying for the neighbouring disgusting smell of popcorn, can invite my neighbours to come over and kick my in the back of the chair or can make just as much of noise crunching crisps on my home. The real reason I never went or hadn’t purchased the movie on DVD yet was that for me The Mist the strongest story by Stephen King was I’ve ever read . And who wants to ruin that kind of sensation?
But then, some day, browsing through the limited BD offer at the local HMV and saw that the UK release had a 2 discs, the second one with a black and white version of the movie. That concept intrigued me and little later the second disc was in my player.
This franchise reboot was another movie I would not have watched if it weren’t for boredom and the obsessive maniacal need to spend money. James Bond and I have a long history, well actually James Bond and my father go a long way back. It was unimaginable that my ol’man would miss a Bond movie on the tube, but obviously he would never purchase a copy either. Bond was his little idol, more even than Mac Gyver, The A-Team, Starsky and Hutch or even Hawai Five O were. My father is a cop and obviously jealous of everyone who can resolve a problem in less than 50 minutes. James Bond, Bond just made dad drool.
After Layer Cake and Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels there was no doubt and I knew Craig would become a great Bond, still I refused to watch Casino Royale, until some day I had a dire need. The neeed to get rid of my money and boy am I happy I did.
Apocalypto certainly was none of the movies I would have purchased if it weren’t for the still poor offer in BD here in the UK. The fact that the movie was directed by Mel Gibson certainly was no help either as I seem to have created a Mel Gibson hate in recent years, probably helped by a quote I read on rec.arts.movies.international:
Mel Gibson is Stanley Kubrick on steroids.
It seems though that The Passion of Christ no accident was and Mel Gibson actually _can_ direct some. Still, I refuse to acknowledge any comparison to Kubrick, the Master.
☆ I know there are fans of coffee art among the frankylicious readers, so I thought I might as well post a link to it here. Even though I would not want to wait or have a barista make a lovely piece of art I would ruin by stirring it up. No, I never would waste any of the guests' time layering flavoured mocchas. Anyway, here you go : Art in My Coffee.
☆ The Sun thinks differently. Did I just link to The Sun?Screw that. Everybody move on now! Nothing to see here.
☆ Not everyone enjoys Christmas but of course that doesn't mean you have to go totally Dickensian about it. Instead, play some Whack-a-mole. On your iPhone. Read a review at AppleGazette.
☆ 1000 Celebrities and pop culture icons in 8-bit art. On your iPhone. At $2.99 a cool deal for 8-bit nerds, otherwise wasted money. 'Get it!', we say.
☆ If you are not a victim of geotardation, ie. if you live in the US of A, you can watch the complete Caprica pilot on SyFy (who's the moron who came up with that spelling?
☆ Interesting discovery and video: an octopus uses a coconut shell to hide under but also takes the shell with him when walking over the mud of the ocean. Coconuts as tools. Most interesting of all, this was not discovered or filmed by the BBC Life team.
☆ Go on, admit it! You also want one of these: 700mW green laser pointer. Abuse the occasion as they are 20% off and only $2.499 anymore! I wished I were rich.
