Posts Tagged review
Samsung Galaxy S Test Shots
Posted by 'Pong in Photography on 26/06/2010
Stilgherrian kindly gives me a new Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy S, he got it from the launch to play with since he has already got Telstra HTC Desire. I have been using Nokia N96 for around 18 months. That is amount of time that techno gadgets double their performance in the market. It is very hard for me to convert myself completely to an iPhone or Android even though they have faster processors, cooler appearance, and most of all, much better user interface. The camera features which are more important to me do not convince me.
The image on the left is taking from Samsung whereas the right one is from Nokia. They both are set on the highest resolution and in normal setting. Nokia’s flash is turn off because there is no flash on this Samsung. The outcome look pretty much the same in low light environment for 5-megapixel cameras. However, Samsung produces images that almost double the file size. In this case, they are 1.5 megabyte and 807 kilobyte from Samsung and Nokia, respectively.
Have closer look and you will see how both camera cope in low lighting in a pub. Samsung has a greater aperture and less colour noise. On the other hand, Nokia has more depth of details, sharpness and contrast. It is not just Carl Zeiss lens on Nokia but also the quality of the sensor chip and the jpg compression.
By all means, I am still the process of testing this new toy. Having two smartphones in my pockets is a bit of a wanker for me but it is going to happen to me. The Android’s wide screen and its faster machine is very good for reading but probably not for an artworks, especially spontaneous ones. The question is more about workflow and connectivity. But before we get to that, I might explore more video.
Image Makers, Image Takers
Posted by 'Pong in Book, Photography on 16/10/2007
Image Makers Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger is basically a collection of insightful interviews of living legends in photography business. That includes the big names like Martin Parr, David LaChapelle and rising stars such as Alec Soth. And the list goes on.
But what I like the most in this book is the section she involves a number of major curator and photo editors of our time, for instance, Camilla Brown from the Photographers’ Gallery, Kathy Ryan from New York Times and Gerhard Steidl from, of course, Steidl.
Although this second part of the book is smaller than photographers’ dialogues, if gives another spectrum of this huge medium. The great thing is to hear from people who get to see photographs as a profession in depth. I want more of them.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Let’s get naked. We are human after all.
With generosity from Dymocks, Stilgherrian and I have a chance to preview the French version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover which is released in Australian cinemas in October. It swept this year 5 César Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress.
A young, intelligent woman, Constance (Marina Hands) gets married with a wealthy, upper-class, half-paralysed man, Clifford Chatterley (Hippolyte Girardot). The unhappy marriage turns her to have an affair with his gamekeeper, Mr Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo’ch). The original novel by D. H. Lawrence was a taboo itself with sex scenes between an aristocrat lady and a working class man. It was banned in many country including Australia.
There is nothing new with the plot of a married woman having an affair in the world of cinemas. They all have their excuses to cross the line. Ask Fracesca’s The Bridges of Medison County, Ada’s The Piano, Ju Dou and many main characters that has their quests beyond a married life. It is a kind of monogamous culture’s fantasy and a universal theme that writers always explore the relationship of a woman with her world, especially, before the sexual revolution and women’s lib movement.
Watching the relationship growing between Constance and Parkin is such a pleasure. They start off with sexual tension and develop into far beyond what she has with her husband—four-letter word, love. They strip their feelings to each other as well as their cloths each time they meet until they part.
Marina Hands beautifully portray Lady Chatterley as such a complex character. She combines naivety and intelligence in a perfect spot. She shines from when she sees herself naked in a mirror. The first sex encounter with Parkin, those eyes tell it all. The final sex scene she runs naked in the rains into the woods for him to catch her and end with floral decoration on her body.
This low-budget French adaptation is directed by Pascale Ferran. She interprets the story to contemporary stand, not just a standard costume drama, less of social context, more of character in depth.
It was limited released in French cinema as opposed to high-financed movies both local and from Hollywood studios. Three hours seem not too long at all giving that it delivers the sensuality in every minute of it.
I Finally SAW It
Recently, BRW magazine announced 50 Australian’s Top Entertainers. The only none-performer in the top ten are James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the Creators of Saw series. The couple won the Hollywood lotto when they got the green light from the studio to finance the film. They make millions of dollars by churning the sequels every year. Saw IV is about to be released this year. I had to see the original on DVD with curiosity.
The story starts with a hi-concept, two men (Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell) wake up to find out that they are chained in a filthy bathroom. They don’t know where they are, how or why they got there. They have to play death games of the mastermind, Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). While they are trying to get free, a cop (Danny Glover) is relentlessly trying to catch him. And of course, it ends up with ultra-violent climax and now predictable anti-climax.
There are the keys of this franchise’s success. Hollywood is always looking for new horrors but it has not been fresh lately. Jason’s Friday 13th cannot be resurrected any more. They’ve already remade Texas Chainsaw massacre. They’ve borrowed Japanese’s The Ring and The Grudge with sequels. George Romero’s made a come back with another zombie flick. Their last original horror as far as I can recall was Final Destination dated in 2000 and Hostel in 2005.
Saw fills the gap with the evil puppet master. Jigsaw is psycho, intelligent and unbeatable. It’s the combination of Hannibal Lecter, Jason and Se7en’s John Doe. Despite of many holes in the scripts and over-the-top acting of Cary Elwes and Denny Glover, it has the elements that this genre gives, the cinematography, the editing and unnecessary blood scenes.
An Aussie home-grown horror has cracked the international market with Wolf Creek in 2005 but it didn’t have the momentum push and Hollywood backup like Saw. They all are in the new blood of horror filmmakers group called the Splat Pack. Watch out for more blood shed and they make money.
Making Senses of Our Dreams
The Science of Sleep
I am a big fan of a French Director, Michel Gondry. The visions he creates such as Chemical Brothers’ Star Guitar and Kylie Minogue’s Come into My World are always astounding. His second feature film, The Science of Sleep, has all his visual tricks that go with dream-and-reality-cross-over theme.
After his father’s death, Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal), moves to France to find out that he does not get the job he was promised as an Illustrator but as a Typesetter in a calendar publisher. The escape from real-life frustration is in the journey through his dreams. Then he falls in love with a local, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), but the girl seems so distant even though she is living next door. While he is trying desperately to win her heart, his delusions become closer and closer to reality.
So what our dreams are made of, just some random intuitive thoughts or emotional fragments of daily life? Boundary between the realms of reality and fantasy is blurred in schizophrenic patients. In this case, Stephane’s mild illusions expose his ingredients of his dreams and mix up with reality quite beautifully.
The vivid dream sequences are made of conventional animation and old-time movie techniques, at least, I do not detect any computer graphics. It is the right medium for a French romantic-comedy—I am not talking about Amelie. The down fall is that I just cannot help comparing them with Terry Gilliam’s work, only more or less Brechtian.
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