December 2003 Archives

This seemed to be a good year to replace my old, 1.3 mega pixels digital camera. With all these new compact zoomy models, I even thought I found a good one.

The Canon S400 Digital Elph was a pleasure to unwrap and play with. Compact. Full of little tricks like the image stich mode. A decent 3x zoom. Manual controls for exposure, speed and light correction. Things looked bright until I put it in my pocket and ended up with a scratched and therefore wrecked screen   

Why would they leave such a fragile screen without any protection is beyond me. How much would it cost to cover it with a layer of transparent plastic ?! What made it worse was the absence of warning about how delicate that screen is.... there were plenty of warnings about how toxic the batteries are if you open them (!!!) but nothing about how to protect the camera when you simply put it in your pocket.

Back to my old model until this one gets repaired. For some reason, that old camera survived my pockets for years without a problem....

The �journey� is finally over. I spent an afternoon back into Middle Earth and came back with an immense feeling of relief and satisfaction... I can�t wait to go back...  there and back again   

After the let down of the Matrix, it was comforting to see that such an epic project came out unspoiled. In spite of the missing scenes and changes to the characters, the Lord of the Rings remains a strong story, with heroes and monsters, braves and cowards, dark corners and flamboyant cities.

Like the first two chapters, the conclusion has its share of wining Bilbo (I still want to get up and shake him half of the time), slow and whispering Arwen (does she really have to whisper all the time ?), impossible stunts from Legolas and inside jokes from Gimly coming straight from a table of Dungeon and Dragons.... but who cares ? The irritating defaults of the movie are vastly overwhelmed by the mix of the rest of the movie. The music and the scenery play parts that are just as important as the actors themselves.

And for a change, here is a movie using computer graphics and special effects at the service of a story and not as a display of the latest shading techniques coming from a studio (Hulk anyone ?). The movie is this effective because the time right - the technology is here. How else would it be possible to express emotions through a dying eye wraped into flames ? or a spiraling battle of Eagles and Dragons ? or heavy rocks rolling across an army like in a bowling alley ?

Since  I read it about 15 years ago, I used to think about the Lord of the Rings as the standard of what is possible to show on a screen. I used to think �they are getting closer... Lord of the Rings is possible�. Now that the movie is here, anything is possible. Any story, no matter how ambitious and fantastic, is now possible. All it takes is commitment from movie studios and dedication from people who believe it can be done.

A consequence of working on my brother�s website was new ideas of updates for my own. I added a side blog to manage interesting links and a dynamic list of recent images added to the gallery. Just like with PHP, Movable Type works very well with Cold Fusion.

Caroline Bergonzi, one of my best friends, will be part of an art exhibition on December 3rd, at the EICKHOLT Gallery, Soho, New York. Opening from 6 to 10pm. 

If you are in New York and you are interested by a unique style, drop by and check out her paintings.

Good luck with the exhibit Caro...