"Just" a camera

EF Lenses used in the making of REVERIE:

1. FD 7.5mm f/5.6 (converted to EF mount)
2. EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
3. EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
4. EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
5. EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
6. EF 135mm f/2L USM
7. EF 200mm f/1.8L USM
8. EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM
9. EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
10. TS-E 24mm f/3.5L
11. TS-E 45mm f/2.8

- yes, the movie is absolutely stunning to look at, it is hard to fathom that it was in effect made with a camera rather than video-camera. And a $5000 budget for flying around is nice. But I have a feeling that for the TCO of those lenses you would get some pretty decent video equipment as well. (RED)

All in all? A great time to look for great content in new places. Enjoy.

...and the sun made a comeback this afternoon...

Jade Emipre 09 - even more punch?

As reported on Cnet and covered more indepth at Gamespot (among many others) - Electronic Arts is buying Bioware and Pandemic, including the IP for Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire. Total price? $860 million. But, for that they are also getting, in the words of the Bioware princes;* "some super secret stuff we're really proud of"

(EDIT: not the only one having "mixed" feelings - UF Sunday comic)

Must admit to being a bit skeptical about the future of the Bioware games and IP - considering how EA is most know for it seasonal mass market sports game, with incremental improvements and changes being the core strategy. Hopefully the rush to market won't be any worse than it has been at times with Atari publishing - as Obsidian has also been feeling...



Best thing about it all? More marketing and great distribution from EA makes it more likely to see a large number of games and add-ons / episodes in the future. And with some luck and strong cultural drive, the quality will stick around as well. Fingers crossed.

...and the sun is heating up an otherwise chilled autumn day...
* aka co-CEOs of BioWare, Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeshcuk

Multi-tv

Just turned of the "regular" television, as the Champions League final match in Athens has ended, and turned a bit more attention over to the laptop which has been running the latest updated version of Joost for some hours. Incidentally the wikipedia page is already up to date with the result - Milan getting it with a 2 to 1 win over L'pool

Now the shows have their own direct links, such as this for an introduction to drawing - sending you to a (rather empty) information page, along with a dedicated link to start the program in Joost (joost: protocol)

Also the sorting in the channel guide seems to work now - and that is a good thing with the number of available channels growing, even a small subset runs into 40 channels so sorting by genre or personal preference is nice.

Still it needs a bit more intelligence to "combine the best of the web"; like folders - just like Google reader let's you group rss feeds, the channel guide should be in levels, giving the option for packages and collections of channels and searches. That way all the animation could have one folder, the music another and the assorted sci-fi'ish stuff a third - making it easier to browse and jump between channels.

If the information and grouping was sent to the central servers it might also make it easier to predict next shows for pre-caching in the background thereby increasing the speed of swapping channels

And still no widget toolkit to play around with - might have to have a look at some of the forum post about possible direct hacks to the existing client to get a better feel of the options.


...and the sun gets up much to early in the summer...

Got game

Short update and praise for Scott Siegler - the gore'master of podcasting and podiobooks.
Just started listening to The Rookie;
a story that combines the intense football action of “Any Given Sunday” with the space opera style of “Star Wars” and the criminal underworld of “The Godfather.”

Based on listening to his previous novels (Earthcore, Ancestor and Infection), I've waited for a while before starting to tune in - which is a good thing because I tore through five chapters and a bonus episode on the train today. And I know that I have many more episodes loaded up and ready to play, up to 19 actually so almost all up (he usually does 22). I can imagine the frustration for those who actually listen along and then have to wait for seven days... the story is a true page-turner, the mix of alien species interesting and vivid, and the football a nice frame for his usual "violence and lots of violence" disclaimer. Not for the faint of heart.

There is even an official site for the league - so check out how things are going over at the GFL
, or get your own customized jersey (g.drn customs rules make too much of a hassle right now. shame really, would have been fun to wear one come spring)

Now, if only there was a tie-in for the next Bioware game, Mass Effect... that would be truly a marriage made in a twisted mind of story and action. Mayhap as a Xbox Live download down the road? Even if it seems unlikely now that there is a book deal with Del Ray

...and the sun .is hidden by clouds bringing more snow to a late winter..