Hiphopsideproject

SO we finalllllly went to see Avatar on Sunday, we were hanging on until we could get tickets for the iMax (Imax? is everything that starts with an i meant to be written in the apple standard?) 3D showing. I went in with no expectations, I’d previously thought it’d just been supremely hyped and wasn’t going to be that good. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I saw titanic at the cinema 5 times (yes. I know.), so I knew that Mr. Cameron was capable of some good cinematic shit, but my god the hype surrounding Avatar has been pretty immense.

Straight off the bat I’ll say that the story is weak sauce, not terrible, but not very original. If you’ve seen that Pocahontas story outline with the names changed floating around on the internet then you pretty much get the gist. Luckily the film isn’t really about the story, it’s a giant ‘Look how pretty!’ pissing contest entry that should hopefully pave the way into some beautifully rendered digital effects.

It is stunning, no bones about it. There are points in the film where your concept of digital effects and reality become so warped that you start wondering if they did actually find some random 6 legged dog and put it in mask. The massive fly over shots of Pandora were amazing, just as filler they probably cost more than a regular Hollywood film.

I came out with my expectations gladly beaten around the face.

This is a dog in a suit from TOS, the ones in Avatar were much better.

Oh hey, this is the chick that played Uhura in Trek 11, but blue.

Oh man, I do NOT know what was going through my mind when I didn’t rush to the checkout with this baby. I saw it on Sunday in Manchester and didn’t buy it. WHAT?! I hear you scream… honestly, I don’t know. Temporal insanity, must have been. Alas, I shall be buying it the next moment I see it. Fucking Pastasaurus. Amazing.

You guys know how I love to take photos of food before I tuck in, this new site is perfect! A collection of user submitted coffee art from around the world. CUTE! Shame that locally you’d lucky to get some froth on your coffee, let alone any kind of pattern :/

artinmycoffee.com

To keep the blog ticking over in this busy period, here’s a draft I’ve had for a while. Enjoy!

So, my weapon of choice (uuum… what’s the term for camera? you know, like an axe is a guitar?… anyway) is a canon 400D (that’s XTi to some). And whilst I love love love it for all it’s worth, I do love my lomography and vignettes. Sooo I once saw this tutorial on how to make your DSLR into a pinhole. Nifty, thought I! So here we go!

Here’s your ingredients

1 DSLR camera (or, a camera with convertable lenses)
1 spare body cap (don’t use the one that you actually use, cos we’re gunna drill holes and shit)
Thin aluminium or thick tin foil

Here’s the tools you’ll need

Coarse sandpaper (try 20 or 40 grade)
Dremel/hand held drill/power drill
Thin needle
black marker
electrical tape (darkest colour you can find)

First things first, you want to sand off the name from the body cap. There’s no real reasoning to this, other than it gives you a nicer flat surface and looks tonnes neater with the finished lens. Use you rough sandpaper, or one of your dremel attachments, then finish with a finer grade.

Then, drill a hole through the very centre of the body cap, quite a small hole is best! On the inside of the body cap, over the top of the hole, stick your thin aluminium/tin foil using the black electrical tape. Through the centre of the hole, and the aluminium, use the finest needle you have to poke a tiny little hole. TADA! You’re done.

Here’re some photos I took using the said pinhole lens, have fun playing with you camera settings for this one! Long shutter speeds and a tripod are most definitely your friends. I also really like the dirt spots, but they also make me feel like a bad camera mother.

Really short post, but I just had to show you this. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything better than this. I don’t think I can ever beat this. Except if I buy the fucking stegosaurus too. Dude…