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Monthly Archives: June 2009

It’s not the Pana, it’s the Indian

Okay, I had a talk with some friends over tapas and stuff over at Kusina Teatro the other day and the conversation went over to a common friend of ours with an illogical LOMO obsession. Not of LOMO the camera, that’s all the way acceptable but of LOMO the “artform”. Thing is, the stuff he does with the camera is in no way artistic. Sure, he uses the cooler LSI cameras like the all-weather supersampler and the Fisheye 2 but he doesn’t go out of his way to actually CREATE something. He uses the LSI cameras like an everyday camera, like a digicam, it’s like he expects the camera to do all the heavy lifting. That’s not how it goes with cameras. The image comes from the mind’s eye. Not from just taking shots over and over again. I ADMIT that it works sometimes but ultimately it’s the photographer/lomographer who makes the photos.

The gist of the comments were simply that I may be using a digital camera but I can create artistic images because I know how to do it. I can get even more creative with my own LSI cameras(all Holgas) because I really go out of my way when it comes to my craft. It doesn’t matter whatever camera you’ve got, you have know about how to make what you have in your imagination a reality.

The best camera in the world in the hands of a sucky photographer will produce sucky photographs. Any sucky camera(even a cameraphone) will still rock in the hands of a master.

Affirmation

Affrmation wasn’t the first Savage Garden song I loved. I really REALLY like alot of this group’s songs. THIS song though, really struck a chord with me, it gave me a framework of belief that I thought would really work. This song talks about what the character believes in. I soon found myself believing in many of the same. Maybe you should check it out, if only to have a fresh point of view.

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold

I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

The guy version of Chick Flicks part 1

So yeah, alot of guys hate chick flicks. We have to be hard people and chick flicks don’t fit into that paradigm. BUT, there are Guy chick flicks, or MAN flicks, movies that make a guy tear up, movies that make us mumble, “a real man isn’t afraid to cry”. Yes, these are are movies that men will not be ashamed to admit that they cried to. I’ve been trying to come up with a list of my own so that if you haven’t seen them maybe you should. So here we go.

The Transformers movie
No, not the live action one, the cartoon one, the 1986 one. The part where Optimus Prime dies and gives up the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus is one of the greatest scenes EVER in cartoons. The lines “But Prime… I’m… I’m just a soldier. I’m not worthy.”, “Nor was I.” tears me up every time…

Saving Private Ryan
Final decisive battle against the Nazis, hopelessly outnumbered. Unafraid to give one’s life so that one man can go home to his family. Then the fast forward to the present day where that same man says, “My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. And I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.”

Field of Dreams
“If you build it, HE will come.” ‘Nuff said.

Varsity Blues
You want a slow clap moment? Here. “Now if we go out there, and we half-ass it ’cause we’re scared, all we’re left with is an excuse; we’re always gonna wonder. But if we go out there, and we give it absolutely everything – that’s heroic. Let’s be heroes.”

Kusina Teatro

OK, I got to check out a new resto with the shak bois last night. Soft opening, chilling with friends, AMAZING food AND drinks. Great GREAT restaurant. Located in Food street at Ortigas Home Depot, Kusina Teatro is a place to go to chill and talk with friends while eating food that will NOT(I repeat, NOT) make you full and drinking alcohol mixes that give you a warm and fuzzy buzz. Hehe!

Anyway. The restaurant is really chill, it looks to be a great date place(DO NOT take a date who eats alot there) Check out the Facade HERE and the Interior HERE.

And the food! Oh the food was GREAT! I’m going to go and suggest whatever it was that I ate.
Oh, I ate the Pork Belly Confit so check out how it looks HERE and it’s DELECTABLE.
I also ate the Fried Cheesecake. I had mine ala mode and you’ll get to see it HERE.

On another note, my friend has a drink named after him. It’s called the Fluffy and you can see it HERE.

Comic reviews June 26, 2009

Another week, another set of comics!

Justice League #34
Nothing of much note here. We complete the retcon of why the DC/Milestone universes are together. Starbreaker gets killed by a 70 pound BULLET(WTF?) with a railgun revolver delivery system. Icon and Superman agree to save both universes and keep Dharma’s secret. Kind of a boring issue, but whatever.

Guardians of the Galaxy #15
Another bit of a yawner but still interesting. Kind of a summary of whatever happened so far from Quill’s point of view. We also get to see Warlock being a badass, by using his Magus persona, I think. Anyways, I really like how interesting Guardians is and I really REALLY wish I started it so I could be more excited but I ASSURE you, I will keep buying it.

Green Lantern #42
I like the funnies in this one. Stuff I didn’t really expect. Nothing stellar. The Blackest Night is upon us and I’m really REALLY excited but I don’t know how it fits it anymore. That kind of interests me because I’m preparing myself for surprises. The epilogue was the PERFECT lead in to Blackest night so all in all I can’t complain.

Gotham City Sirens #1
Picks up on the story of Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and The Riddler after the fallout from the “Heart of Hush” and “Battle for the Cowl” story arcs. It wasn’t all that amazing as a first issue but I’m more than willing to buy the next few issues if only for the ending of this one.

This week was sort of a disappointment but I’m not one to give up on a series simply because the first issue I picked up wasn’t up to par. There’s always next week, right?

I’m going to be reserving my copy of the following comics for next week.
Batman and Robin #2
Green Lantern Corps #38
Justice League: Cry for justice #1(of 6)
Secret Six #11
Agents of Atlas #7
Captain America: Reborn #1 (Alex Ross cover, NATCH)
War of Kings #5(of 6)

With a “might get” title(the first time in almost a year)
Marvel Divas #1(I know, kill me now…)

Weird week and Transformers

Semi fail, semi sad, semi crazy week. The fail was mainly me but the weird was the happenings.

Got to watch Transformers with my little brother and sister. One tip: don’t bother trying to get the story. Just enjoy the action and Megan Fox and you’ll be fine. LOL!

The important thing that happened this week is the whole new blogging schedule. Going great so far.

Edit: I STILL can’t get over Michael Jackson’s death. Dammit.

Token support

What have I got against token support via Twitter?

Okay, EVERYONE who isn’t under a ROCK(or doesn’t have internet or CNN/News access) knows about the craziness in Iran. I have no problem with people showing their support. I have something against people who show support in a way that is screaming for attention. Token support is fine by me, that’s pretty much all I’ve done anyway. Token support as a choice is fine, you give what you can. I’m good with all the people who’ve added a green ribbon or overlay to their avvies, they’re showing support, it’s all they CAN do. But maybe they could do a little bit more.

But like I said, maybe that’s all they CAN do. Add a green overlay or a green ribbon or maybe even an ostentatious wallpaper screaming their support, I don’t judge. What is this “more” that I’m asking for? Maybe re-tweeting about unblocked, unmonitored IP addresses. Maybe changing their location to Tehran and their timezone to GMT +3:30(Tehran) ‘coz it supposedly confuses the Iranians who are trawling(not trolling) Twitter for “insurgents”. I don’t know. It takes ONE CLICK to add the ribbon or the overlay, it takes 3 to change your timezone and 7 to change your location to Tehran and complete the process so 10 clicks in all. I don’t think it’s THAT much of a difference. I also don’t think that doing that makes that much of a difference in the end but heck, I’m willing to take a chance with that, I just happen to think the green will kinda tip them off you know?

Comics I’m buying June 26, 2009

Simple rundown. I gave this list already so I’m just reiterating and giving links for you to see it.

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1
GREEN LANTERN #42
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #34
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY # 15

Just some random photography musings

Disclaimer: Most of the equations in this entry are based on the fact you are using an APS-C camera with a crop factor of 1.6 like many of the consumer level Canon DSLRs(as I AM a Canon user)

Hmmm, I got to think about “normal focal length” the other day. In a 35mm film format camera, the focal lenght that most people consider “normal” is 50mm. This is actually untrue because the diagonal of the film negative is actually 43.3mm or some value in the thereabouts.

This got me to thinking about crop cameras. People say that the “normal” lens for a crop camera is a 35mm lens but that can’t be right either seeing as 35 x 1.6 = 56 which is nowhere near 43.3. Anyway, I want to see what focal length is the true “normal” for APS-C cameras.

Using 43.3mm as “normal” for a film camera.

43.3 / 1.6 = 27.0625mm

Hmmm, so the closest focal length I can think of would be 28mm. Now I gotta check if there’s a 28mm lens available.

Edit: June 24, 2009, 3am. I’ve just browsed the Canon website and yes, there is a pretty good 28mm f/1.8 USM lens available. Good for me. The advantage of using a 28mm lens over the 50mm f/1.8 that I currently use is that I can hand hold it for almost twice as long.

If you didn’t know, the “safe” shutter speed(where camera shake becomes negligible) is 1/x where x = lens focal length. So the “safe” shutter speeds will be 1/28th of a second and faster.

Why I like using primes

So yeah, the quality of Zoom lenses has really gone up over the years. I’m not THAT old but I still remember the days when Zoom lenses would suck. I grew up using a Minolta with a 50mm f/1.4 manual focus lens.

It was honestly great times all around and I think that this is the main reason why I still stick with FFL(fixed focal length) lenses more than anything. I really like the new Zooms especially the new kit lenses and the telephotos but I end up going back to Primes.

Most Primes are faster and lighter than most Zooms. Their focal lengths are fixed. Meaning that that’s all you got.

I like Primes because they make you think. They force you to move around to compose the shot you’re going to take. You can’t just stand in the same place and zoom in or out. You have to do real work. You have to get off your butt and work for the shot.

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