Spring Time

The sun is out, the sky is clear and the temerature is at a comfortable 70 degrees with a nice cool breeze from the west. Spring has finally come, and it's beatuiful!

And Friday it's supposed to snow.

Again I wonder why I live in this state.

I just read my last post...

and I have to apologize.

I'm not sure why I'm having such a problem forming coherent sentences of late, but I really hope I can reign it in soon.

Outpost

I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to take just a moment to mention a film I just watched called Outpost. Also, a bunny happened...

Outpost

Outpost is a brilliant movie that has a great story not only script-wise, but it also has a great back story.

The movie was conceptualized by a Kiernan Parker, and written by Rae Brunton. The financing came from Parker and Arabella Croft, who mortgaged their Glasgow home to raise the funds. It was filmed in Scotland. In the end, it was picked up by Sony for more than five times the original funding.

Wikipedia Plot:

In a seedy bar in a town ravaged by war, mysterious businessman Hunt hires Marine D.C. to assemble a crack team of ex-soldiers to protect him on a dangerous journey into no-man's land. To this gang of hardened warriors, battle-worn veterans and borderline criminals killing is just a job - and one they enjoy.

Their mission - to scope out an old military bunker in Eastern Europe. It should be easy – 48 hours at the most. Lots of cash for little risk. Or so he says…

Once at the outpost, the men make a horrific discovery that turns their mission on its head – the scene of a bloody and gruesome series of experiments, carried out during World War II. Amid the carnage, they find something even more disturbing – a survivor…

As war rages above ground, and a mysterious enemy emerges from the darkness below, D.C. and his men find themselves trapped in a claustrophobic and terrifying scenario. Their mission is no longer one of safe-guarding – it’s one of survival. Together they must discover why Hunt has brought them to the outpost – and what it is that’s killing them off, one by one…

I have to say that this film turned out to be a real diamond in rough. The story is solid and well designed, if not perfect. The special effects are minimal, and in some cases fall pretty short. The makeup and costumes are great, as are the sets and the cinematography. The acting is reasonable from the entire cast, though there are a few rough spots. The diversity of the mercenary team is interesting, and seems to fit well in the story. There's also a very well produced film depicted in the movie that as a real air of authenticity, and really works well.

Overall, it's worth the watch. It has a kind of uniqueness that makes it something different, and a back story that makes it even more interesting. It's not perfect, but given the budget and adversity, it's easier to overlook it's flaws.


Bunny

There was a bunny out in front of my patio tonight. It's been raining pretty heavily, and it let up for a short time and this little bugger came out looking for food. He was kind enough to not only wait while I got my tripod, but also wait through several shots at an 8 second shutter time.



That's it

... for now. Back when I find some time.

Nothing to see here

... but over on my writing blog, I've done a little updating, adding stories from the new writing project Mike and I are working on.



Feel free to rush over and read it up. The new link points to the Writing Project Contents.

That's all for today...

... I promise, I'll be writing a real post sooner, rather than later.

Cantankerous, you say?

I'm sorry, but I thought I should share something that cause both Mike and myself to laugh hysterically for about 5 minutes. Perhaps it was just the timing, or perhaps it's just that we're completely insane...



We were looking for ideas for the project we're working on right now, where we take random log lines and each write a short story based on it....

Many of them are funny, many of them are lame, but this one was a gem.

Speaking of said stories, expect to see some of mine up on my writing blog, 'ad pedem litterae' soon, and Mike's on his blog, 'Man Eats Bear'.

Short talk....

I don't have a lot to say right now... but I wanted to talk about something I find funny.

Before the funny, though, I wanted to mention something that I find disgusting.

My laptop was stolen on Friday. It was taken out of my office, which someone had left open when they'd left. I work in a public place, so of course, with a laptop being stolen every second (yes, I'm just making that number up, but I know it's a very frequent thing), it was bound to happen that my exposed machine would go fast.

I didn't lose much, just a few active things that hadn't been backed up, but won't be hard to re-do. It's just frustrating that we live in a world where people feel the need to take things. The thief was kind enough to leave my bag and everything else in it, including a camera worth a couple hundred bucks, my Zune, and a variety of flash and portable drives.

I replaced it with a Toshiba U305-S2804, which is a nice little 13.3" machine I'd had my eye on anyway, wanting something more portable than my 15.4" Sony. I'm doubly happy about that because I can use my little portfolio again, a Wenger Swiss Army thing that I originally got back when I was thinking of getting a little PowerBook. (I ended up with a 15.4" PowerBook then anyway, which I got rid of within a few weeks because, try as I might, I just can't get into MacOS X.)


Anyway, I've been pretty busy getting this machine set up again, and other various things. Mike and I have started a 'writing project' because we've both been feeling pretty lulled in terms of writing. So, we're working with random topics that one suggests, we both write it in a few days and present the work to the other. It's been fun, I'm finishing the third one now. Who knows, we might actually end up with something worth while from the endeavor.

Now, my main point in writing tonight...

Aviary

I finally got my invite for Aviary. Right now, I only have access to a couple of tools, but the main one I wanted to check out was the Image Editor, they call it Pheonix.

Already I've found a few issues, most of which are minor. Cosmetically it's nice, and neat, but I'd like more control over my workspace. Also, there seems to be an issue with Ctrl-A (select all) where it leaves a 1px gap at the bottom. Also, the gradient tool makes me want to stab myself.

I have to give them the fact that they've built something as powerful as they have using Flash. It's hard not to compare it to Photoshop, and I can't see myself dumping PS for a.viary yet, but I can certainly see the draw.

This brings me to the humor, though. They've built this whole thing in Flash, an Adobe product. They're building something to rival the gamut of Adobe products, and they're doing it using an adobe product! There's something deeply amusing to me in that.

Either way, I would encourage people who are interested to sign up for the beta. It's interesting, and I'm eager to see what they do with it. I'm going to try and work with it some more, and we'll see what happens.

Now that I'm in, I also have 5 invites available, so I plan on getting some feedback from some other people on what they think too.

I'm hoping that I'll get access to their Vector editor soon, which I'm really eager to see in action.

Actually... I also got in on the Photoshop Express Beta as well, and I'd like to talk about that more, as well as compare the two products, but that will have to wait.

Goodnight...

I need to get some finishing touches done on my current writing assignment, and then hit the hay. But I'm hoping to find some time, soon, to talk about more stuff. I've been seeing movies, playing games, and generally living life as usual... so I've got plenty of fuel for the fire... when the time comes.