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FanExpo Review Round-Up

September 28, 2010September 29, 2010 Peter Brunton Benjamin Rivers, Caanan Grall, Camilla derrico, Empty Words, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, Freelance Blues, Max Overacts, Snakors Pizza, Tanpopo, The Anthology Project, Wordburglar5 Comments

Obviously with FanExpo, and then TIFF, I haven’t had much time for my usual comics review (though there’s certainly some good stuff on the stack), but at FanExpo I did get plenty of chances to read a whole load of interesting comic books. Here then, are my thoughts on a few of them. Max Overacts Four strips in, Max Overacts found it’s way into my daily webcomics feed. It’s the kind of comic that strongly recalls the early days of the webcomic explosion, when everyone was trying to recreate the…

The Sacrifice DLC coming Oct 5th – comic online

September 27, 2010September 29, 2010 Doug Groves DLC, L4D, L4D2, Mac gaming, PC gaming, The Sacrifice, Valve Software, Xbox 3605 Comments

Valve has announced that “The Sacrifice” DLC for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 will be released on October 5th, 2010. The new DLC further bridges the gap between the two games, and tells the story leading up to the demise of **** (name redacted for spoilers sake). During the lead up to the release of the DLC, Valve has also started putting “The Sacrifice” comic online, with the first 2 of 4 parts now available. The DLC “The Sacrifice” will be available for the XBOX 360,…

Adobe Demos It’s Plenoptic Lens and Software

September 26, 2010September 28, 2010 kingpinlei Adobe, Bladerunner, demo, Plenoptic Lens, video8 Comments

From the realm of cool news, Adobe recently demoed a radical technology involving a Plenoptic Lens and a new software that will find it’s way into Photoshop eventually. Basically, this new lens (with software help) allows still pictures to be focused and re-focussed AFTER the picture is taken. That’s right! AFTER the picture is taken, you can manipulate the depth of field to pretty much anywhere within the picture. How does it do this? The Plenoptic Lens is basically made up of a whole bunch of tiny little lenses. The…

Fan Expo 2010 – Interview with Anna Silk and Kris Holden-Ried

September 23, 2010October 12, 2010 Doug Groves Anna Silk, canada, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, interview, Kris Holden-Ried, Lost Girl, Show, Showcase, supernatural, TV, video5 Comments

Showcase was on hand at Fan Expo promoting their new TV Series Lost Girl, and we managed to get some time to talk with stars Anna Silk (Bo) and Kris Holden-Ried (Dyson). The show, about a succubus who’s only recently become aware of the larger supernatural fae world of which she’s a part, airs Sundays at 9pm. In this interview, Alex talks with Anna and Kris, who give us an idea of what it’s like working on the supernatural thriller, as well as some insights into their individual characters, and…

Panasonic’s New LUMIX GH2 Announced

September 22, 2010September 24, 2010 kingpinlei camera, DSLR, Germany, GH2, HDSLR, Lumix, Panasonic, Panasonic GH2, Photokina, press release2 Comments

Panasonic announced and showcased the highly anticipated followup to their GH1 camera, the LUMIX GH2, at the latest Photokina, held every other year since 1956 in Cologne Germany. More of an update than anything else, it appears Panasonic has listened to their customers and improved the features based on customer feedback on the GH1. In a nutshell, here they are: a brand-spanking new 18 MP multi-aspect ratio sensor that offers 16.05 MP output ISO range of 160-12800 in 1/3 EV steps touch sensitive LCD screen HD video at 1080 60p…

Netflix launches Canadian streaming package

September 22, 2010September 24, 2010 Doug Groves event, Mobile, Netflix, Netflix Canada, rental, streamning3 Comments

The long awaited Netflix Canada is now open for business. The service features a wide selection of movies and TV shows, accessible through a variety of devices. Unlike the disc based options available in the US, the Canadian service is unlimited streaming for $7.99 a month, and is available for viewing on a variety of platforms, including the PC, Wii, iPhone/iPad and PS3. Netflix for the Xbox 360, which was the first console to get the service in the US, won’t be available until later this fall. No doubt this…

Microsoft expanding Zune Services internationally

September 21, 2010September 24, 2010 Doug Groves Microsoft, MP3, press release, Windows Phone 7, Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune, Zune Pass7 Comments

With Windows Phone 7 just around the corner, it’s no surprise that Microsoft finally announced their first round of international expansion of the Zune service, providing digital entertainment services to more than 20 countries. Not all countries are created equal however. The much vaunted Zune Pass will be available in the UK, France, Italy and Spain, for 9.99 euros. The Zune pass allows users to have unlimited access to the Zune music library from Windows PCs, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Live. Unlike the US version, which costs $14.99 US,…

Arts Music

Cyber-Steam Punk Magic Scanner Lantern

September 21, 2010September 23, 2010 Pete Chapman Branchage Film Festival, Magic Lantern, Robin Rimbaud, steampunk1 Comment

If you’re not tired of film festivals and you happen to be on the Isle of Jersey between September 23 to 26 you may want to check out the Branchage Film Festival. A lively event that uses the island’s single Cineworld cineplex and 17 other venues (churches, nightclubs, the Opera House, the Polytunnel (a greenhouse), a “horse-box” trailer and a Sushi bar) as screening/performance venues for a variety of feature films, shorts, documentaries and live music soundtracks. That last item appears to be one of the specialties of the festival….

TIFF 2010: Monsters Q&A with director Gareth Edwards and cast

September 21, 2010September 22, 2010 drsquid Colin Geddes, Director, District 9, festival, Film, Gareth Edwards, Midnight Madness, Monsters, Q&A, sci-fi, Scoot McNairy, TIFF, tiff 2010, Toronto, Whitney Able2 Comments

Monsters, directed by Gareth Edwards, was one of my top picks for this year’s TIFF. I had heard some good things about the film – some were calling it this year’s District 9, made at a fraction of its budget. Going in, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. It turns out that aside from the fact that Monsters and District 9 both feature their aliens in a ‘real-world’ setting, the two films have almost nothing in common. In actual fact, Monsters totally surprised me — it is unlike any…

Blurring the line between production and post production: NewTek demonstrates Virtual Cinematography in Lightwave

September 21, 2010September 22, 2010 Doug Groves 3D, Avatar, Lightwave, Lightwave CORE, newtek, post production, production, Rob Powers, virtual camera, virtual cinematography1 Comment

Newtek has long been one of the most innovative digital content creation companies out there. Originally an Amiga based company, with products such as DigiView, the first colour digitizer for a computer, and the Video Toaster which gave users the power of a live switching studio via an add on card , they’ve continued to innovate through the years. This year at SIGGRAPH is no different, as Rob Powers, VP of 3D development took the stage to demonstrate the virtual cinematography capabilities of Lightwave 3D 10, the latest version of…

Arts Hardware

Fresh Look Through an 102 Year Old Lens

September 20, 2010September 21, 2010 Pete Chapman Canon 5DmkII, Cine-Velostigmat, Colt Rane, DSLR, lens, photography1 Comment

Photographic experiments can often yield some pretty interesting results, especially when you mix the old and the new. In a mashup of old and new camera tech, photographer Timur Civan put a 1908 (that’s the year , not the model number) Wollensak 35mm , F 5.0, Cine-Velostigmat lens on a Canon 5DmkII and walked out into the streets of Manhattan. The results are on view at Colt + Rane. Enjoy.

HD Video Bitrate Standards – Clearing up the Confusion

September 20, 2010September 21, 2010 kingpinlei Canon, codec, DSLR, filmmaking, h.264, HD DSLR, HD video, MPeg 2, Nikon, Sony3 Comments

While reading about the new Nikon D7000 and its initially unimpressive sounding HD video modes, I’ve come across a lot of opinions by many people who are disappointed about it’s possible 19.3 Mbps (Megabits per second) data rate. This includes many indie filmmakers thinking that rate may be too low for their purposes, myself included. We’ve all heard much about what are the good bitrates to look out for are, which ones are broadcast ready, which ones are crap and so on. Well, I stopped and asked myself, “Wait-a-minute, just…