Makes me wonder who's messing with the Emperor there. Looks like he's wearing a green cloak, which rules out Vader, but the gloved hand kinda rules out your typical Jedi.

577

(9 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I'm going to try and go in completely cold on this one. Don't know anything about it and going to keep it that way!

In fact, generally, I'm trying to avoid trailers these days - they give away way too much.

578

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Lipstick's a solid at room temperature so it can't be that.

Ok, is it a type of cream?

579

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Sounds like a cream to me, hmmm... but what type I wonder.

Sun cream?

580

(53 replies, posted in Episodes)

BigDamnArtist wrote:

But I really don't understand this shit well enough right now, oy, alright, so say I have something like the Helios you mentioned, full manual everything. Is it by the nature of it being full manual that you can throw it on just about anything? Or is it a product of it working in roughly the same way as the canon system that allows you to throw it on there? Put another way, if I tried to adapt an old lens like that down to a m4/3rds, would I be losing  most of the image, or just really limiting my range with it like Sam was talking about with the flange distance?

It's by virtue of the fact that it's fully manual. Unlike most lenses made over the last decade, there's nothing digital or electronic in there, it's all moving parts that you can move yourself. So you will never not be able to focus with it or control the aperture. The downside is that you have to do those, and not the buttons on the camera, but to be honest, any photographer worth their salt does this anyway.

As for the second part, I'm not entirely sure what you'd be losing when mounting the Helios onto the M4/3rds. From a quick read through of the wiki page on that system, it would be appear that cropping occurs and a slight loss in image quality due to the sensor. I have underlined a few points of interest.

From the page:
Disadvantages of Micro Four Thirds compared with DSLRs
    The sensor is 35% smaller in area (2.0x crop factor) than APS-C (1.5x crop factor, or 1.6x for Canon-APS-C) sized sensors and 75% smaller (i.e. a quarter of the area) than a full frame sensor (1.0x crop factor) (35 mm equivalent), which can mean lower image quality when all other variables are the same. This might include poorer color transitions and more noise at equivalent ISO settings, especially in low light, when compared with the larger sensors.
    Due to the absence of a mirror and prism mechanism, there is no ability to use a through-the-lens optical viewfinder. A through-the-lens electronic viewfinder, an attachable optical viewfinder (similar to a rangefinder or TLR), or the universally supplied LCD screen can be used instead.
    A larger crop factor (2x multiplier versus APS-C's 1.5x) means greater depth-of-field for the same equivalent field of view and f/stop when compared with APS-C and especially full frame cameras. This can be a disadvantage when a photographer wants to blur a background, such as when shooting portraits.

Popularity with Adapted/Legacy Lenses
    Due to the short native flange distance, of the Micro Four Thirds System, the usage of adapted lenses from practically all formats has become widely popular.
    Because lenses can be used from old and abandoned camera systems, adapted lenses typically represent good value for the money.
    Adapters ranging from low to high quality are readily available for purchase online. Canon FD, Nikon F (G lenses require special adapters), MD/MC, Leica M, M42 Screw Mount, and C-mount Cine lenses to name a few are all easily adaptable to the Micro Four Thirds system with a glassless adapters resulting in no induced loss of light or sharpness.
    Due to the 2x crop factor of the Micro Four Thirds System however, most adapted glass from the 35mm film era and current DSLR lineups provide effective fields of view varying from normal to extreme telephoto. Wide angles are generally not practical for adapted use from both an image quality and value point of view.
    Some disadvantages of using older adapted lenses on micro four thirds sometimes slight losses in image quality. This is the result of placing high resolution demands on the center crop of decade old 35mm lenses. Therefore 100% crops from the lenses do not usually represent the same level of pixel-level sharpness as they would on their native formats.
    Another slight disadvantage of using adapted lenses can be size. By using a 35mm film lens, one would be using a lens that casts an image circle that is far larger than what is required by Micro Four Thirds Sensors.
    The main disadavantage of using adapted lenses however, is that focus is manual even with natively autofocus lenses. Full metering functionality is maintained however, as are some automated shooting modes (aperture priority).
    An advantage of wildlife shooters and birders in particular lies with the fact that old 35mm telephoto lenses become extreme telephotos due to the system's 2x crop factor.
    Overall, the ability to use adapted lenses gives Micro Four Thirds a great advantage in overall versatility and the practice has gained a somewhat cult following. Image samples can be found readily online, and in particular on the MU-43 adapted lenses forum.

581

(53 replies, posted in Episodes)

I would say it's ultimately about what sort of imagery you would like to record (e.g. vintage glass has an asthetic appeal of its own so you may want backwards compatability), how much function you want the lens to have (some adaptors may not give you all the auto features), how much you're willing to spend (some mounts may limit your buying options more than others), and how often you are willing to change lens 'sets' (is there any point in getting lenses for a mount that you know you'll change anyway?).

I have a Canon 550d/Rebel T2i, and this allows me a fair amount of versatility in lens choices. I have the standard modern zoom lens and Canon's own modern 50mm MkII, both of these hardly used as neither lens appeals that much to me. The 18-55mm zoom has a slightly greenish quality to it and the 50 just feels like cheap plastic (the MkI version is better but much harder to find now). I'm then able to plug in directly to this same mount EF-S mount an old crappy Sigma zoom lens, and then I have two adaptors - one for Nikon lenses (both ones that I have are from the 70-80s and are entirely manual, which is what I personally like and are my favourites) and one that mounts both a vintage Practika lens and a post-war Soviet-made lens, a 58mm which is probably my favourite of the lot.

So as you can see, I own 4 lenses that are several decades old and yet because they're all manual primes I don't ever lose anything by mounting them on this relatively new Canon body. I also like to be as hands on as possible when photographing/filming so the lack of whizz bang features don't bother me. The modern glass, my Canon lenses, do not have any manual aperture controls so if I were to mount these on a new system in the future which doesn't follow the 'rules' of the EF-S mount, their function could be greatly limited. Conversely, there'll pretty much always be a way to mount vintage lenses.

On the other side, for me, I just love the look and feel of the old glass. The fact that they're also cheap as chips is a bonus. My Soviet Helios 58mm? Cost me £8 off of ebay.


I guess all that rambling doesn't really answer your specific question... I guess the TLDR version is decide on a camera with a mount that gives you as much versatility as possible in terms of adaptors available to it or has the lens range which offers you what you want, then go for that one. I wouldn't bother getting any lenses for a system you're actively intending to change, especially if it's not a quality glass line.

582

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Is it used in cooking?

583

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Is it a beverage?

584

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

http://www.smeggys.co.uk/smeggy_images/big_brother/bb9/jennifer/spitting/bb9_d23_e4_24_wenn1945829.jpg

585

(49 replies, posted in Episodes)

The Romans had theatre, yes, but their fake death wasn't anywhere near comparable to the gruesome realism we have today (which you'll note is becoming increasingly more severe as we get more desensitised). Screen violence today appeals to the same base nature of man as gladiatorial games, much more deliberately so than professional sports. I'd argue we don't get our 'fix' from those at all.

Also, as an aside, the notion of gladiator fights being a fatal activity is somewhat overstated. In fact, at one point sine missione bouts (i.e., death matches) were banned (even though the 'games' in general may have continued to include executions). This to me suggests that it was not necessarily blood and gore that attracted people, but the drama.

Trey wrote:

And District 12 mines coal - already a major industry in the 19th century, and one that still fuels much of our world today.  Some of our real-world Appalachian coal miners don't live that much differently than the fictional District 12 folk in the movie as it is - and that's without a fictional dictatorship intentionally keeping them enslaved.

Our world isn't in the 22nd century though; the utopic city we're shown looks to have energy requirements far in excess of what we have now. The problem isn't that there's a gap, it's that the severity of the gap is too acute. Further, it's one thing to mine coal, but the poorer and more undeveloped the infrastructure for that is, the less efficient it's going to be, which ties into how the Capitol is supposed to keep functioning when at risk of being underpowered.

It also makes little sense to keep all these districts oppressed and backward... quite aside from the constant threat of rebellion if they're so poor they starve, they'll die, then the slaves will fail to provide what you need as well as not being able to buy your products and grow the economy...it's such an inane and moustache-twirling attittude and not at all conducive to long term gain!

Anyhow, I should probably listen the commentary now.

586

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I don't know... velcro? No, it can't be that, because that's not a representation of someone or something...and it does vary in size.
Crap.

Can it be folded and/or bended? (I'm aware that you said it could be posted in an envelope so...)

587

(1,649 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I love TableTop smile They've come out with a few Extended Editions recently that are absolutely great. My favourite have probably been Dragon Age, Pandemic and Settlers of Catan. I'm very close to actually buying some of these board games.

588

(49 replies, posted in Episodes)

BigDamnArtist wrote:

So basically what you're saying Red, is that it's their own damn fault and they should just get off their asses and work?

Yeah...well actually since they're already working, and working really hard because their society demands toil, then under these conditions, none of the children should technically have to train. All the kids who've grown up in the shitty districts should be shaped by the hard world around them, they should be practical, hard, fit, and have plenty of survival skills. That they don't and that some come across as wide-eyed bambis is, in my opinion, one of the failings of the film to set up a plausible universe (along with the absurd notion that a few 19th century societies each with 19th century technology can support a 22nd century society).

With regards to gladiatorial games, I'd like just to point that virtually all entertainment with violence mimics what the Romans did. Films and TV are our gladiatorial games, entertaining us with skill, blood, and drama (heroics, trickery, cowardice, pride, bravery etc). Because you can bet if the Romans could fake it like as well as we do then they'd have done it too.  The surpreme irony is a show like Spartacus, which is a bloodthirsty gladiatorial show about bloodthirsty gladiatorial games.

589

(49 replies, posted in Episodes)

Doctor Submarine wrote:

The outlying districts didn't have the resources that 1 and 2 had, which is why those kids were so well-trained. And because those kids almost always won, those districts continued to have access to superior resources.

Because superior resources are needed to give people basic survival and fighting skills? History teaches us that hard environments breed hard people, and there's little harder than having to scrape a living off the land and hunt down your food with your own hands using rudimentary tools. That Katniss is essentially a master archer despite living only proves how irresponsible most of the districts are when it comes to their own children as her abject poverty is irrelevant.

Maybe the book justifies it better.

Supergirl looks like she's dressed in typical high fantasy elven garb, so I didn't think much of that one, same with Powergirl (it's the boots more than anything I suppose), but Psylocke and Elecktra work really well and fit in perfectly with their characters (i.e., they're dressed like ninjas).

591

(364 replies, posted in Episodes)

I thoroughly enjoyed the last poll we did which chose those six films before LOTR. I learnt that democracy is great but that I should lubricate the system with money and loose women.

592

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

So what was the internal varieties thing then? I think you should stick to yes/no answers  tongue

593

(211 replies, posted in Off Topic)

The 'internal varieties' has me thinking its a pipe of some kind, i.e., a smoking pipe. But since I've never used one I'm not sure how much sucking is involved.

I think it's time to admit I have a man crush on Kurt Russell. Fella has been awesome ever since I first saw him in Big Trouble in Little China.

Saw Lockout and can only remember the part where they jump out of the space station and go into immediate freefall, because, you know, being in orbit is just like being really reallly high up in the sky. That and the whole inanity of the let's put our dangerous prisoners in a station above the earth thing made me roll me eyes a bit.

But I vaguely remember enjoying the whole thing despite these two complaints.

I just saw Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, which is another remake from Takashi Miike and is yet another case of the original (by Kobayashi) being much better. Throughout the whole thing, I was wondering what the point of remaking it was (besides telling the story in colour). I don't know, maybe someone who hasn't seen the original would like it (and perhaps end up preferring it due to its more modern look)?

596

(255 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Re-reading Blade of the Immortal, which is actually a manga with pictures and stuff, cuz I can't read. Seriously though, I read all day for my job (I'm a copyeditor by trade) so these last 5 years or so I find it a struggle to pick up and read a book. Which is actually more of a shame than you might think, because I love to read.

Blade of the Immortal, for what it's worth, is one of the finest comics you'll ever read and is a sprawling epic about an immortal ronin with, and this is the shocker, blades (yes, more than one!). So really the title is misleading. Why is it so great? Because the dialogue's poignant and funny, one moment it's ghastly dark and the next it's just really romantic, there's a fair amount of action, and the artwork is stunning in that it's very well staged and you can clearly see emotions on characters' faces, you can see what they're thinking. I bet if you read in its original Japanese, you could understand the gist of what was going on. In my experience, 99% of comic artists cannot draw expressions that go beyond 'I'm angry' or 'I'm attacking', which are usually drawn the same, and neutral.

597

(64 replies, posted in Episodes)

I rather intensely dislike that video. It demonstrates the old adage of 'not all replies are answers', in that some of the answers are merely hand waves, and manages to be quite patronising to boot.

598

(364 replies, posted in Episodes)

I'd love to see some more Arnie films - Predator, Running Man and Total Recall being at the top of that list. And True Lies I guess, since it'll get you one step closer to doing the Complete Cameron Collection. Gotta catch em all etc.

599

(349 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Eddie wrote:

Oh, and the last shot of this season will likely be the hateful eyes of a certain lady.

Wait, so Sansa's direwolf comes back from the dead?  wink

bullet3 wrote:

As an unabashed fan of the first Gi Joe movie (which I maintain is exactly the approach these dumb toy movies should be taking, and a bloody masterpiece compared with Transformers and Battleship)

I thought I liked the first GI Joe movie but I watched it with a couple of mates this past weekend and we were all surprised by just how ghastly it is, we couldn't even enjoy it for the action. Terrible dialogue, nonsensical plot, dated CGI and some horrid acting converge to really dampen the fun, such that I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a superior to Transformers (at least the first one) and Battleship. Not that there's nothing of note in the whole thing. It also has about a million flashbacks which are clumsily added in at random points.