The Generational Divide in Copyright Morality. Article by David Pogue.
Now he has me worried.
Update: I was being a little tongue-in-cheek here, just a little. I'm not all that worried. Things will always find a balance, and the bulk of people are willing to pay for what they get, given that they can pay easily and the price is fair.
Personally I keep sharing within reason, and if my customer/visitors do the same, I don't attack them. I have never attacked anybody for sharing a few dozen images from my sites, not even a few hundred. On rare occasions it has ventured into the thousands, and then I have addressed the poster or the host with a polite request to remove them. I think that's reasonable.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Domai sculpture
Nine months in creation, the specially commissioned DOMAI sculpture "Inviting Joy" is finally ready!
Victor Issa created this based on my wishes and on Domai models.
I am over-thrilled with the result, it really embodies what I want DOMAI to express, and it is a gorgeous fine-art piece too, and of the highest quality.
This is the page about it on Domai.
Victor Issa created this based on my wishes and on Domai models.
I am over-thrilled with the result, it really embodies what I want DOMAI to express, and it is a gorgeous fine-art piece too, and of the highest quality.
This is the page about it on Domai.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Ridley Scott, smoke and mirrors
Ridley Scott's commentary (apropos those) on Bladerunner is brilliant. It's a whole little primer on how to make films.
One example: on shooting the city scape miniatures... you need a very small aperture, otherwise the small depth of field will give away that it's miniatures. So every frame needs to be exposed for a full second or something like that. So you need a motion control camera, since the camera is moving extremely slowly.
And he wanted much smoke to give the atmospheric perspective. And also to aid the models, because since they were comparatively small due to budget, and so they could only be so detailed and no more.
But the thing is with smoke and the filming with one frame per several seconds, the smoke will move, and flicker!
So they devised a system with many smoke detectors in the room metering the level of the smoke, and a system for small nozzles adding a little at various places, thus keeping it constant over the whole room, over the whole day. And it worked!
Bet you didn't think of that when you watched the movie!
Update: Even Ridley repeats the commonly-heard assertion that Deckard's mental image of a unicorn (which was missing in the original release) means that Deckard is a replicant. I never got that, how's that logical?
Update: I'm amazed at the level of collaboration they did on this film. Ridley Scott says that Harrison Ford came up with the blood in the glass of water. And apparently on the very last night of the shoot, Rutger Hauer wrote one of the best speeches in movies ever, his own "all those moments" speech. Fantastic.
Rutger also invented the hairdo he had. And Darryl Hannah invented her missing eyebrows and her black-painted area around the eyes, inspired by the vampire in Nosferatu.
Update: (blogging is great, I can just keep adding thoughts as they occur.) The five-disk Blade Runner (I thought it was called "Bladerunner") collection includes an excellent making-of documentary. At three and a half hours! Amongst other tidbits it includes a glimpse of a more graphic love scene between Deckard and Rachel. Hot stuff.
Ridley Scott is a very intelligent man. He talks about how love (read: sex) scenes are always superfluous. Gratuitous. And he always keeps them out, or at least short. And I understand what he means. They usually do stop the action, and are not often very interesting. But I don't see why they have to be like that. A scene with the main character riding his bicycle down the road can also be gratuitous and boring, but it does not have to be. It's just a matter of whether it adds to the film, in terms of story, or character, or mood, or whatever. See? So if a sex scene tells us more about the characters or the story or the world it's in, then it's good.
One example: on shooting the city scape miniatures... you need a very small aperture, otherwise the small depth of field will give away that it's miniatures. So every frame needs to be exposed for a full second or something like that. So you need a motion control camera, since the camera is moving extremely slowly.
And he wanted much smoke to give the atmospheric perspective. And also to aid the models, because since they were comparatively small due to budget, and so they could only be so detailed and no more.
But the thing is with smoke and the filming with one frame per several seconds, the smoke will move, and flicker!
So they devised a system with many smoke detectors in the room metering the level of the smoke, and a system for small nozzles adding a little at various places, thus keeping it constant over the whole room, over the whole day. And it worked!
Bet you didn't think of that when you watched the movie!
Update: Even Ridley repeats the commonly-heard assertion that Deckard's mental image of a unicorn (which was missing in the original release) means that Deckard is a replicant. I never got that, how's that logical?
Update: I'm amazed at the level of collaboration they did on this film. Ridley Scott says that Harrison Ford came up with the blood in the glass of water. And apparently on the very last night of the shoot, Rutger Hauer wrote one of the best speeches in movies ever, his own "all those moments" speech. Fantastic.
Rutger also invented the hairdo he had. And Darryl Hannah invented her missing eyebrows and her black-painted area around the eyes, inspired by the vampire in Nosferatu.
Update: (blogging is great, I can just keep adding thoughts as they occur.) The five-disk Blade Runner (I thought it was called "Bladerunner") collection includes an excellent making-of documentary. At three and a half hours! Amongst other tidbits it includes a glimpse of a more graphic love scene between Deckard and Rachel. Hot stuff.
Ridley Scott is a very intelligent man. He talks about how love (read: sex) scenes are always superfluous. Gratuitous. And he always keeps them out, or at least short. And I understand what he means. They usually do stop the action, and are not often very interesting. But I don't see why they have to be like that. A scene with the main character riding his bicycle down the road can also be gratuitous and boring, but it does not have to be. It's just a matter of whether it adds to the film, in terms of story, or character, or mood, or whatever. See? So if a sex scene tells us more about the characters or the story or the world it's in, then it's good.
Topfree in Scandinavia
In Sweden and Denmark there is a new movement for women to bathe topless in swim baths. They sure have my support.
The article is in Danish, but the gist is that they stage topless bathe-ins as a protest against rules demanding tops. And they seem to gather sympathy, at least in Denmark. Sweden tends to be a bit more conservative, so I don't know how the movement goes there. (Though it started there.)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bladerunner, picture quality, and engineering
It's funny, no matter the brilliance of new hardware, so much depends upon the soft side of things, on coding. Example: I watched Ocean's 13 on HD-DVD. It looked dreadful. The image was grainy, and the colors were off, way off. The first time Al Pacino entered the frame, I thought his character had been in a tanning-booth accident (seriously), because his face was all orange!
In contrast, I just now watched the first two minutes of the HD-DVD version of Bladerunner. What a picture! I swear it looks better than anything I saw in the cinema. Crystal clear, sharp, perfect, living color. Everything you could hope for, for the most visually rich of all movies since Metropolis.
It is weird about Bladerunner: three decades on, it still has not been matched in design and visual depth and beauty. How can this be?
What I really love about Bladerunner is the huge cityscapes, exemplified by the first two minutes. That huge model of future L.A., with thousands of tiny window lights. And the detailed buildings, like the immense Tyrell Corporation building (with the slanted side buildings). If that building was real it would house maybe 200,000 people. And the design of it is just beautiful and intricate.
Update: Apart from the visuals, my opinion is that the "magic ingrident" of the film is Mr. Rutger Hauer and his amazing delivery of his lines. His pauses are genius. "Men? ... Police... men?"
And of course those lines themselves.
"All those moments/will be lost in time/like tears in rain."
Has Hauer done anything else as great as this?
In contrast, I just now watched the first two minutes of the HD-DVD version of Bladerunner. What a picture! I swear it looks better than anything I saw in the cinema. Crystal clear, sharp, perfect, living color. Everything you could hope for, for the most visually rich of all movies since Metropolis.
It is weird about Bladerunner: three decades on, it still has not been matched in design and visual depth and beauty. How can this be?
What I really love about Bladerunner is the huge cityscapes, exemplified by the first two minutes. That huge model of future L.A., with thousands of tiny window lights. And the detailed buildings, like the immense Tyrell Corporation building (with the slanted side buildings). If that building was real it would house maybe 200,000 people. And the design of it is just beautiful and intricate.
Update: Apart from the visuals, my opinion is that the "magic ingrident" of the film is Mr. Rutger Hauer and his amazing delivery of his lines. His pauses are genius. "Men? ... Police... men?"
And of course those lines themselves.
"All those moments/will be lost in time/like tears in rain."
Has Hauer done anything else as great as this?
The fake mirror
Most hidden camera pranks are pretty dumb, but this one is ingenious. I could have thought of building the mirror room, but including the identical twin actress is just genius.
I would have liked to have seen how I would have reacted myself, and how soon I'd have figured it out.
I like the lady who in a depressed voice states: "Ich bin unsichtbar." ("I am invisible.")
I would have liked to have seen how I would have reacted myself, and how soon I'd have figured it out.
I like the lady who in a depressed voice states: "Ich bin unsichtbar." ("I am invisible.")
D3 samples
Nikon D3 image samples.
Parotting my dad: I've told you before, and I'm telling you again with tears in my eyes: this is a revolutionary camera for low-light photography, and I can't wait until we get this kind of performance in a camera which is not so dang big and heavy. And I think both Nikon and Canon may come up with something like that before long.
ISO 3200 pictures look fantastic, and even ISO 12800 is very usable in my view. This is something entirely new.
Update: the official D3 pages.
I love the term the "proprietary FX format". It is like by shaving one tenth of a milimeter of the 80-year old 35mm format, they suddenly have created their own brand new format, which is revolutionary, and we forget that Canon has had full frame cameras for four years already! Very funny.
Parotting my dad: I've told you before, and I'm telling you again with tears in my eyes: this is a revolutionary camera for low-light photography, and I can't wait until we get this kind of performance in a camera which is not so dang big and heavy. And I think both Nikon and Canon may come up with something like that before long.
ISO 3200 pictures look fantastic, and even ISO 12800 is very usable in my view. This is something entirely new.
Update: the official D3 pages.
I love the term the "proprietary FX format". It is like by shaving one tenth of a milimeter of the 80-year old 35mm format, they suddenly have created their own brand new format, which is revolutionary, and we forget that Canon has had full frame cameras for four years already! Very funny.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
HP One
I'm watching Harry Potter One on HD-DVD. It's a good film. Looks great, and I can't imagine how they could have done a better job translating the books into movie land.
I am still sometimes rankled, though, by the imcompetence of the Wizard Leadership. For example: the students are not allowed in the Black Forest, because it's dangerous. And they are not allowed roaming the castle after dark, because it's dangerous. So what is the punishment if they are found around the castle after dark? They are sent into the Black Forest! Come on! That's insanity and buffoonery, and not worthy of a "great leader" like Dumbledore.
I greatly enjoy the stories, but there are just a couple of examples like this, where I think Rowling is being illogical for the sake of creating suspense. She could have done that more logically with just a little more thought.
---
... Anyway, one of the things I love most about movies these days is the amazing designers and concept artists who work in them. Take for example the giant chess set in The Philosopher's Stone. What an amazing design. Both in terms of the basic design of the individual pieces, and in terms of the weathering and aging they have applied to them.
I am still sometimes rankled, though, by the imcompetence of the Wizard Leadership. For example: the students are not allowed in the Black Forest, because it's dangerous. And they are not allowed roaming the castle after dark, because it's dangerous. So what is the punishment if they are found around the castle after dark? They are sent into the Black Forest! Come on! That's insanity and buffoonery, and not worthy of a "great leader" like Dumbledore.
I greatly enjoy the stories, but there are just a couple of examples like this, where I think Rowling is being illogical for the sake of creating suspense. She could have done that more logically with just a little more thought.
---
... Anyway, one of the things I love most about movies these days is the amazing designers and concept artists who work in them. Take for example the giant chess set in The Philosopher's Stone. What an amazing design. Both in terms of the basic design of the individual pieces, and in terms of the weathering and aging they have applied to them.
Tryk på
Just because I'm in an exuberant mood today, I'll be cantankerous and post these lyrics in their original Danish.
They are from the song Tryk på by the Danish band Shu-bi-dua.
The band were huge in the seventies and eighties, and recently I bought all seven CDs of theirs from then.
That by the way is another small miracle of modern economics: each CD cost me only about, call it, eight dollars or so, which was about the same as the LPs cost back then, and this is not compensating for 30 years of inflation. Nice.
Jeg ta'r til Hillerød
og køber morgenbrød,
og henter min avis.
Så ta’r jeg hjem igen,
for at læse i den,
og glæder mig naturligvis.
For der er meget godt,
og det er trykt så flot
det er s'gu billigt til den pris,
og når kaffen er klar,
så ta'r jeg en 'gar
og læser hat i min avis.
Og der er tryk på, sensationen tryk på,
du kender tonen, lidt dur. og lidt mol,
lidt kys og lidt vold.
og en splitternøgen kælling side tolv.
Der er en fed kronik
om ny barok musik,
og en leder at Karl Baj,
som siger kernekraft
og solbærsaft,
må isoleres hver for sig.
En nekrolog om Ho,
der siger han lever endnu,
og en rubrik om vildt begær,
og en fotokonkurrence,
hvor ingen har en chance,
for dommeren har fået stær.
Og der er tryk på...
En mand med guld i mund,
og hus ved Øresund,
vil bytte guld og gods,
for en gammel kælk,
og en halv liter mælk,
og et billede at Stirling Moss.
Og så på sidste side
får du alt at vide,
om Lucky Luke og Barske Bill,
og når du er træt af mosten
i morgenposten,
kan du svøbe den omkring din sild.
Og der er tryk på...
---
Another small phenomenon: I remember an interview with Shu-bi-dua (sometimes spelled Shubidua), where this song was mentioned, including the mention of Stirling Moss. They commented that "these days maybe nobody knew who he is". And this was 25 years ago! (I guess the song is 35 years old.) Well, thanks to the miracle of the web and wikipedia, I was finally able today to find out who he was. (I was just a child back then, so they were right in my case, I did not know him.)
... I just know somebody will try a machine translation, so I beat you to it. Warning, it is completely off!
I ta'r to Hillerød and buyer morgenbrød , and get my paper. So ta’r i homes again , to read through to the , and i am pleased naturally. By there's highly good , and it is printed so in a big way it is s'gu cheap to the terms , and catching the coffee is distinct , so ta'r i a 'gar and locking hat to my paper. And there's depress , the sensation depress , you recognizing the tune , awhile dur. and awhile mol , awhile kiss and then some bank. and a splitternøgen kælling paper twelve. There's a boldfaced features about novel grotesque music , and a administrator that Karl Baj , that says kernekraft and solbærsaft , can isolate individually. A nekrolog about Ho , there says he liver yet , and a blank about savage appetite , and a fotokonkurrence , where none has a alternative , by the judge has got strong. And there's depress. A gentleman by gold to mouth , and cottage known Øresund , vil barter gold and goods , by a aged kælk , and a half litre milk , and a portrait that Stirling Moss. And so at last paper gets you all ascertain , about Lucky Luke and Gruff Beatle , and catching you are tired of mosten to morgenposten , can be you svøbe the round your herring. And there's depress.
They are from the song Tryk på by the Danish band Shu-bi-dua.
The band were huge in the seventies and eighties, and recently I bought all seven CDs of theirs from then.
That by the way is another small miracle of modern economics: each CD cost me only about, call it, eight dollars or so, which was about the same as the LPs cost back then, and this is not compensating for 30 years of inflation. Nice.
Jeg ta'r til Hillerød
og køber morgenbrød,
og henter min avis.
Så ta’r jeg hjem igen,
for at læse i den,
og glæder mig naturligvis.
For der er meget godt,
og det er trykt så flot
det er s'gu billigt til den pris,
og når kaffen er klar,
så ta'r jeg en 'gar
og læser hat i min avis.
Og der er tryk på, sensationen tryk på,
du kender tonen, lidt dur. og lidt mol,
lidt kys og lidt vold.
og en splitternøgen kælling side tolv.
Der er en fed kronik
om ny barok musik,
og en leder at Karl Baj,
som siger kernekraft
og solbærsaft,
må isoleres hver for sig.
En nekrolog om Ho,
der siger han lever endnu,
og en rubrik om vildt begær,
og en fotokonkurrence,
hvor ingen har en chance,
for dommeren har fået stær.
Og der er tryk på...
En mand med guld i mund,
og hus ved Øresund,
vil bytte guld og gods,
for en gammel kælk,
og en halv liter mælk,
og et billede at Stirling Moss.
Og så på sidste side
får du alt at vide,
om Lucky Luke og Barske Bill,
og når du er træt af mosten
i morgenposten,
kan du svøbe den omkring din sild.
Og der er tryk på...
---
Another small phenomenon: I remember an interview with Shu-bi-dua (sometimes spelled Shubidua), where this song was mentioned, including the mention of Stirling Moss. They commented that "these days maybe nobody knew who he is". And this was 25 years ago! (I guess the song is 35 years old.) Well, thanks to the miracle of the web and wikipedia, I was finally able today to find out who he was. (I was just a child back then, so they were right in my case, I did not know him.)
... I just know somebody will try a machine translation, so I beat you to it. Warning, it is completely off!
I ta'r to Hillerød and buyer morgenbrød , and get my paper. So ta’r i homes again , to read through to the , and i am pleased naturally. By there's highly good , and it is printed so in a big way it is s'gu cheap to the terms , and catching the coffee is distinct , so ta'r i a 'gar and locking hat to my paper. And there's depress , the sensation depress , you recognizing the tune , awhile dur. and awhile mol , awhile kiss and then some bank. and a splitternøgen kælling paper twelve. There's a boldfaced features about novel grotesque music , and a administrator that Karl Baj , that says kernekraft and solbærsaft , can isolate individually. A nekrolog about Ho , there says he liver yet , and a blank about savage appetite , and a fotokonkurrence , where none has a alternative , by the judge has got strong. And there's depress. A gentleman by gold to mouth , and cottage known Øresund , vil barter gold and goods , by a aged kælk , and a half litre milk , and a portrait that Stirling Moss. And so at last paper gets you all ascertain , about Lucky Luke and Gruff Beatle , and catching you are tired of mosten to morgenposten , can be you svøbe the round your herring. And there's depress.
Better
Well, I'm starting to feel a lot better.
I've long prided myself on my "fierce independence". Which is in some aspects pretty idiotic, and it took a serious crisis like my back condition this month to make me reconsider it for real. I was in such pain I begged for help from everybody and anybody. I've had help from nurses and doctors, healers, spiritual teachers, physio therapists and homeopaths, angels, and probably mice and cockroaches. And it's all helped.
All through it I felt that it was basically just a blip on the curve of what is otherwise a time of big expansion for me spiritually, the further development of which I'm much looking forward to.
I've long prided myself on my "fierce independence". Which is in some aspects pretty idiotic, and it took a serious crisis like my back condition this month to make me reconsider it for real. I was in such pain I begged for help from everybody and anybody. I've had help from nurses and doctors, healers, spiritual teachers, physio therapists and homeopaths, angels, and probably mice and cockroaches. And it's all helped.
All through it I felt that it was basically just a blip on the curve of what is otherwise a time of big expansion for me spiritually, the further development of which I'm much looking forward to.
Camera guide
Need to find a good camera without days of research? Look at Imaging Resource's Quick Recommendation Guide.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)