The Darjeeling Limited movie

I've heard about this movie from a friend and finally got a chance to see it. It's one of those indie, comedy, soul searching type of a movie, with a bit of a hollywood feel to it. Good cast (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman), real/great locations...
It's about three brothers, who get together on a train to go to India in search of their mother, who kinda disappeared after their father died. The only reason they get together in the first place, is because one of them had a near death experience.
You should watch this one, makes you think about life, family and values afterwards.



I'd give it 7/10.

Happy New Year

To put is simply, I wish you all the best in 2008, may all your wishes and dreams come true!

In the spirit of this time of year, I went around town yesterday, with D300, Nikkor 14-24 and a tripod to do some shots. I have mixed feeling about it - concerning lights in town. There were a lot less then previous years and even if this makes a bit smaller lighting effect, power consumption and energy saving is a lot better due to this. Not to mention light pollution. So it's all good :)
Have a great one!

Love really is a strange thing...

Been at a party last night, meet some great people, talked with "lost" friends, had a great time. But what stucked most, was a beautiful girl and her "boyfriend". I noticed her quite soon, when they walked in and sat at a table across mine, she had big green eyes and blondish hair. There were other people sitting there as well, they all knew each other. They were chatting like everyone, then it happen. He hit her. Not just a small slap on the cheek, he cut her lip. The music was too loud for most people to notice anything, their table of course did. They paused for a minute, she took a tissue to stop the blood, then they simply started chatting again. She leaned back into the shadow and then we made eye contact. We look into each others eyes for about a minute, then she looked at the floor. I have a feeling that moment and that look is going to haunt me for a very long time.
I simply can't stop thinking about it. First about the moment when it happened. Should something be done, should the guy be reported/kicked? Or would that just make it worse for her later?
Then about her point of view. Is it love? Can someone that's suppose to love you, do that to you? Is it ok to let that happen to you? How can you "love" or even be with someone that does something like that to you? I don't know, I don't get it, I'm lost..

Couple of minutes later, she engaged in their conversation again, like nothing happened. Somehow I got a feeling, it's not the first time something like this has happened to her..
Greeneyes, go, get away, you deserve someone A LOT better then him! Love is a special thing, don't waste it on someone like that.

Good for you..

Let me translate..
DOBRO ZAME = Good for me*
(*This particular store uses this phrase for it "super" prices.)
Zemlja za grobove = Soil for graves

So to rap it up.. Good for me : Soil for graves : only €2.99

You never know when you're gonna need it, so I guess it's a wise move to get ready. Holidays are around the corner as well, lot's of crazy things happen then, hopefully not that crazy that you're gonna need this item, but...

Earths future decided in Bali..

"The U.S. has been humbled by the overwhelming message by developing countries that they are ready to be engaged with the problem, and it's been humiliated by the world community. I've never seen such a flip-flop in an environmental treaty context ever," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace.

The European Union was pleased with the deal.

"It was exactly what we wanted. We are indeed very pleased," said Humberto Rosa, head of the European Union delegation.

"We will have now two tremendously demanding years, starting right in January. Many meetings, many discussions, many people passing many hours doing things," he said.

Agreement on a pact in 2009 would give governments time to ratify the pact and give certainty to markets and investors wanting to switch to cleaner energy technologies, such as wind turbines and solar panels.

Kyoto binds all industrial countries except the United States to cut emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. Developing nations are exempt and the new negotiations will seek to bind all countries to emission curbs from 2013.
... from Reuters...

US is again the main problem.. they always seem to be. Biggest polluter out there, but they don't want to do anything about it. Typical..

We shall see what will ACTUALLY happen. Trust no one.

D300

Nikon D300.. if you're into photography in any way, I'm sure you've heard/read about this cam (and it's older brother D3 as well probably). D300 finally became available to our market a week ago and I don't need to tell you, sellers are out of stock already. And they didn't import single digits either, I hear they were in triple digits (you have to understand one thing, Slovenia has around 2m population, so that's a lot).
Since I write for two magazines here in Slovenia, I got a change to preview and play with both cameras a few months ago. I'm also scheduled to get D300 for a full test this week, so consider this post as a preview.
I personally own D70s which I love. It's a great and light camera, fits my needs perfectly. I've been thinking to upgrade to D200 a year ago, but (and here's why I won't upgrade to D300 either) to get *any* improvement on the picture quality over D70s, I need to go full frame or FX as Nikon calls it. The ONLY advantage to get a 10 or 12Mpix sensor over the 6M in D70s in the crop capabilities. Overall image quality between D70s and D200 is practically identical. And I've been using D200 for months as well. Sometimes D70s produces even better images then D200, due to less pixels on same sensor size. Pixels are just a marketing trick people, get over it. There's a reason why D3 with FF/FX sensor has "only" 12Mpx and not more.. and thank you Nikon for that! No wonder high ISO is AMAZING!
I might get tempted to get a used D200 now, as you can imagine, there are loads on ebay and out local "flea markets".
Photokina is next year, I bet Nikon will come out with FX sensor in D300 body.
It's going to be a busy year 2008..
I'd get mine D300 here.

Luc Besson

Today I want to write a few words about one of my favorite, it not the favorite, director Luc Besson.
Born in 1959, Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of Grand bleu, Le (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in school. He planned on becoming a marine biologist specializing in dolphins until a diving accident at age 17 which rendered him unable to dive any longer. He moved back to Paris, where he was born, and only at age 18 did he first have an urban life or television. He realized that film was a medium which he could combine all his interests in various arts together, so he began taking odd jobs on various films. He moved to America for three years, then returned to France and formed Les Films de Loups - his own production company, which later changed its name to Les Films de Dauphins. He is now able to dive again.

I'll write just a few of his titles that I love:
Leon the Professional - ranks in first top 5 of my favorite movies
Nikita - again, has to be in top 10 of my favorite movies
The Big Blue, The 5th element, Taxi, Subway, Angel A, The Transporter, Danny the Dog, Colour me Kubric, Hitman,... and others. It's really amazing how much creativity and talent some people have.
(P.S. Amazon created a nice Luc Besson collection, take a look).

Here's a song by Slovenian singer (Anja Garbarek), based on Angel A movie, that's also featured in the movie. Have a listen, it's great..

AIDS

..be safe..

Iceland

I had a strange and strong fascination with Iceland for the past few weeks. Not sure why or how, but I just got very interested in the country and all that. A lot from photographic point of view as well, those black beaches and green fields, glaziers and lakes, contrast, nature,.. must be great for photography..
Been reading all about it, checking tourist information, getting the activities and things to see down on paper. I've ordered (and now received) a bunch of brochures from Reykjavik and Icelandic tourist board. Have to say, they do have things organized and well presented, online and in paper form. Almost have my whole future trip set up :)
Don't know, I guess I should really go over there in the near future.
Photo: ©HKVAM @ Flickr

Photo, pp, PS,..

I've been browsing through many dozen of my Flick contacts today, checking their new stuff, getting some thoughts down.. it's just amazing how talented some people are. It's scary really when you thing about it. How can someone make a really amazing art photo from a simple coffee mug, tennis shue, paper clip, leaf or something like that. We all know that creating a truly amazing image for commercial use is no longer limited to just the photographic talent. More and more post process and Photoshop skills come up front. But that always make me wonder, is this a photo? Can we even call it a photo with all this post process done on it? Some don't even stop there, it's a full blown montage, combining 2-10 images into one image. I personally don't have a problem with that, but I think "photo" is the wrong term for this.. creation, don't you? Hmm.. what's next I wonder.
Just glad to see, there still are truly talented photographs out there, which don't need all this computer skills to leave their mark.
I'll post some images later, way too many to choose from.