Tags: download, soul, photoshop, adobe, warp

Find of the Day

Posted on July 15, 2008 in Adobe photoshop brushes (Default)

Okay, so I didn't find this today, but I am sharing it with you today.

Freecycle is a great idea, an I joined it a few weeks ago. I found it through a friend initially a couple of years ago, but never joined because... uh well, I don't know why.

Anyway, here is a brief history of Freecycle as found on their website at Freecycle.org:

"On May 1st, 2003, Deron Beal sent out the first e-mail announcing The Freecycle Network

Tags: freecycle, ago, found, joined, today

Rough Week (s)

Posted on July 12, 2008 in Adobe photoshop brushes (Default)

It's been a hectic week or two. If it could go wrong, it has gone wrong. We ran out of propane, which is both how we cook and heat our home, about a week ago. Several days before that our car was involved in a six car collision in the canyon just outside of Albuquerque (driver hydroplaned on ice and crossed over the median head-on into traffic. Brian was in the car, and had no injuries, but it totaled the car.) Two days later we ran out of Propane at the office, and the propane company said they were out of propane and it would be a week before they got any in. I borrowed my mothers car, which has no heat, and so I have been suffering in the cold more than a bit. (We can't afford to fill the tank at hoe until we fix my car situation, not enough money to go all the way around.

In short, it has been a difficult week or so.

I find myself fearful at all this talk of recession, thinking that if things are hard now, how bad it could become if the economy were to take a nose dive.

Even so, I am not good at focusing on problems. Call it optimism or Ostrich Syndrome, but it seems pointless to dwell on what you can't change right now.

I have been enjoying the company of my eldest son, Logan, who has been home for a couple of days sharing transportation with me. My youngest isn't as social with me, but he's doing pretty good in school, and has been developing a more grown up personality. Coming into his own, so to say. It's fun to watch.

I have an itch to do a photo session, so hopefully soon I'll have more to share in that area, until then, it all good wishes to all of my friends out there. :)

I am a big fan of Sci-Fi movies, End of the World genre flicks, and sometimes good Horror movies. When I first saw the trailor I knew I wanted to see Cloverfield. However, after reading some reviews of it on IMDB, (careful reading some of these reviews there are lots of spoilers), I changed my mind. It sounded too disjointed, and like something that might cause me to walk away with a headache and motion sickness, something I am not willing to pay the price of a theater ticket for.

My kids, however, made a big deal about seeing it, and I found myself interested again, so I saw it today. I am not in the habit of doing movie reviews, but my preconceived notions about whether I'd like Cloverfield or not were so off base, I felt like I ought to post something.

The premise of the movie is that a group of people are throwing a going away party for one of their friends in New York City. One of the guys is given the job of recording the revelers, and so becomes the mode in which we see the rest of the movie, through the lens of his personal video camera.

This does mean that there is a lot of jolted, jerky scenes, and when I say a lot, I mean almost every frame. (Reminds me of when I first started using my own home video camera, I can hardly stand to watch some of these old movies because they are so badly done). Though Cloverfield obviously and intentionally makes the film bouncy and often hard to follow, it works well for the story being told here. If it were too smooth, you would not be able to believe these characters are running in terror, in fear for their own lives.

Though the cast, (Michael Stahl-David as Robert Hawkins, T. J. Miller as Hudson "Hud" Platt, Jessica Lucas as Lily Ford, Odette Yustman as Elizabeth "Beth" McIntyre, Lizzy Caplan as Marlena Diamond, Mike Vogel as Jason "Hawk" Hawkins) are not big name actors, they deliver a well executed performance. The dialog both before and during the monster attacks serves to connect you to the characters and give the sense that they might be people you know.

This is not a feel good movie, if you're looking for one you might want to check out something else. But this was, for me, surprisingly believable, and I might even like to watch it again. If my review were to count for anything, I'd give Cloverfield two thumbs up. :)

Labels: cinema, Cloverfield, J. J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, monster, movie, review