hertenberger.co.za

Lego Monster has a great selection of custom-built Lego models. One of my favourites is this faithful reproduction of a Spitfire Mk IX.

While a replica of a Messerschmitt would have been nicer, the Lego Spitfire is certainly eye-catching and a great effort!

Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter tasked with hunting down six Nexus-6 androids that have escaped from an off-world colony. San Francisco in 2021 is no fun place to be, as is the rest of the earth: World War Terminus wiped out almost all plant and animal life and has made vast countrysides uninhabitable.

Mercerism is the religion du jour and individuals rely on empathy boxes to help them cope with daily life and to blend for brief moments with others using an empathy box at that point in time. The overall mood in the novel is one of depression, sadness and despair. Since most animals and insects are extinct, live animals are prized possessions. Deckard‘s mission is to make sufficient money to replace his electronic sheep with a live animal. There’s a lot of shame associated with families not owning an animal or having to admit to owning an electronic replica.

In his quest to hunt down the androids, Deckard comes into contact with Rachel Rosen, part of the Rosen empire that is the manufacturer of the Nexus line of androids. Using the Voight-Kampff empathy test, Deckard discovers that Rachel is also a Nexus-6 android model. She is unaware of this fact, having had memories implanted to make her more human. The brief love affair between Deckard and Rachel lasts but a very short time: Deckard informs her of his decision to kill the six androids. Rachel kills Deckard’s live goat as a sign of her displeasure.

The second-most prominent figure in the story is J.R. Isidore, a chickenhead or special. Due to his exposure to high doses of radiation he is doomed to never travel off-world, works for a company specializing in artifical animal repair and lives in an abandoned apartment complex filled to the brim with kipple. The surviving three androids hide in that building and enlist Isidore‘s help.

Of course this 1968 novel is the basis for the 1982 movie Blade Runner. The movie contains elements of the book, but can never highlight the nuances Dick describes in his text. In fact, the entire killing spres Deckard embarks upon and completes takes no time at all. The book is more concerned with the state of the world, how individuals are affected by their surroundings and how an individual identifies with his environment, be that individual a human being or possibly non-human. It’s fascinating, essential science fiction. If you haven’t read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I urge you to dive right in. Watching the movie after having read the novel makes for a far more interesting experience.

You have a variety of choices: pick up the paperback, listen to the audio version as I have done or wait a month or two for BOOM! Studios to release a comic book version of the original novel.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a true classic that has stood the test of time.

It’s the applications that make a mobile device super useful and absolutely indispensable. Today, an application appeared in the iTunes app store that I was hoping for but never imagined would make an appearance: it’s rather simple, as it provides access only to a listing of TV schedules.

But as a company that is very tight and careful regarding distribution of its program listings, Multichoice for once needs to be congratulated. The iPhone DStv Guide is exactly that: a program guide to all DStv channels on the iPhone. The application is a free download and installs rather quickly – all information is gathered over-the-air.

All channels in the various bouquets are accessible. To save on data transfer times and bandwidth costs, the application displays a listing from which the user may select favourite channels to monitor.

Once ticked and selected, the channel overview screen displays the relevant scheduling information for the current time. Click on a specific channel to view a daily schedule up to seven days in advance.

It’s a really useful application and means I’ll no longer have to struggle trying to navigate the actual DStv website on the iPhone to try and view the schedule information.

Now, MultiChoice: how about opening up your schedule even more by providing media PC users with access to your online program guide?

Or else, I call on an enterprising individual who has the time and patience to use this iPhone app, a protocol analyzer and some coding skills to create a similar application to pull the OPG information directly to a media PC. Just a thought…

In the meantime, you may download the iPhone app from the iTunes app store.

Here’s a rather nice way of keeping cables from dropping off your desk and being ready for the next time you need to connect a device.

CableDrop is a multi-purpose clip that is used primarily to secure various cables but can also be used to secure a number of other non-cable objects, such as pens.

Each CableDrop has a self-adhesive sticker on its base. Peel and stick to a suitable surface, then attach whatever cables need  to be held in place. Mostly, I’d use this for the iPod, network and USB cables that always fall to the floor when one disconnects…

Six CableDrops per package in either muted or bright colours for USD 9.95 isn’t too bad. BlueLounge ships to South Africa.

The EOS 5D MkII is an awesome camera that produces stunning results. I haven’t played around too much with its HD video capture functionality, but do know that there is no manual exposure control.

The camera takes care of all settings for the user, which is not a bad thing but prevents creative control. That’s all about to change. Canon has released a press statement detailing an updated firmware for the EOS 5D MkII which will include manual exposure control for HD video capture.

That’s a rather significant upgrade to the firmware and is a change to firmware one likes to see: increasing functionality instead of bug fixes. Manual exposure control will allow the user to select ISO, aperture settings and shutter speeds. Rumours indicate full control over the aperture setting, ISO settings from 100 to 6400 or Auto and shutter speeds from 1/30 to 1/4000.

Combine the vast selection of lenses with full manual control and I’m certain we’ll see some awesome video productions made with this camera in the coming months.

The official release statement can be found in this PDF file. The new firmware is set to be released sometime on 2 June. The firmware update will be available on the Japanese Canon support site.

NeXTSTORM has a collection of inventive Lego creations. His latest is a theatre production featuring pirates titled The Pirates and the NXTfied Theatre. The stills below don’t do the video version any justice.

Built using a single NXT brick and a few other motorized components, the pirates sail onward to reach their goal.

For the technically-minded, some behind the scenes footage is provided.

Watch the video here.

While moms were enjoying a rather long, extended Sunday lunch, dads got to take their sons to the Ferrari Show Day at the Montecasino in Fourways.

On display, about thirty or so Ferrari‘s covering many models and variants that have been produced over the years. Without exception, all cars were in absolute pristine condition and most of them red, of course. Nonetheless, owners took no chance to soil the Piazza paving with unsightly oil spills and most cars were parked over a mat – Italian cars, after all

The cars were on display whilst the Monaco Grand Prix was being shown on a large display and at about 16:00 the cars took off with roaring engines, to the delight of the Ferrari faithful.

No cops or speedtraps on Witkoppen road: the exiting cars accelerated to top speed as they made their way from the venue.

Here are a couple of the cars that could be seen on the day.

F360 F1 – yellow. Not all Ferrari‘s have to be red…

Of course, there were a few red ones on show.

And some classics.

I was really looking forward to Canon‘s EOS Roadshow, held this morning at the Kyalami Theatre on the Track.

The venue, catering and gifts handed to each participant were top notch. After a brief introduction to the Canon brand and a short overview of the new 500D SLR the stage was set for some professional photographers to share their experiences.

Liam Lynch got going with his long slideshow of photographs, mostly of fringe bands playing abroad and in South Africa. From a technical perspective, Lynch seemed to be the most at ease with providing the audience with some background information on how and why certain shots had been composed. His is an interesting portfolio comprising a lot of black and white work, some of it integrated into videos.

Next up, Clinton Lubbe. Lubbe seems to specialize in fashion photography, mixing interesting temperature and lighting effects into his photos to gain more impact. He is also quite a whiz at Photoshop and provided a few tips on how to touch-up photographs using that software package. His jovial, engaging style made him rather popular with the audience.

Lillith Leda is a model turned photographer, with a very artistic style. Best of all, she is quite content using very basic equipment, but then relies on a fair bit of photoshopping to process her images.

If the above sounds a bit dour, then that’s exactly right. The organizers and photographers giving of their time to speak at such events need to be thanked for their efforts, but my impression as a hobbyist was that too much emphasis was placed on portfolios of established professionals. There’s nothing wrong with them sharing their work, but it is unlikely that my hobby photography will extend into any of the areas they work in. In my opinion, the roadshow could have focused more on how to have fun with a camera, with a  single talk given by a top professional and more of an emphasis on product and capability. There’s little value to be gained by looking through arbitrary portfolios, especially those created using fairly expensive equipment, special locations, models and oodles of post-processing work. That’s great for pro’s, but not necessarily achievable by the hobbyist.

A number of well-known movie posters have Lego counterparts, didn’t you know?

300:

I am Legend:

Quantum of Solace:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

In certain instances, I would hazard a guess that the plastic minifigs could come up with as much emotion as their flesh and blood counterparts…

What to do if you’re a keen photographer but also enjoy playing with Lego? You build a scale model of your photo studio using the plastic bricks, of course.

Not only is the photo studio a nice vignette, Larry Lars has many other creations he’s photographed. See them on his Flickr page.