Mom spotted this shot.

Uploading a picture from my Key West trip with Mom. This shot is still a little rough actually, but I'll clean up a high rez image later; Mom is going to kill me if I don't get some things posted soon.

We were heading out of the park after a spending a few hours in the water and sun, when Mom surprised me by showing this great view of the bridge before we left. She wasn't planning on getting out or staying, but I gave her my best puppy dog eyes asking, "Would you mind terribly if I took some pictures?"

I said "Thank you!" before she could really answer, and then I was off shooting.

Thank you really though Mom. It was a great trip. :-)

Not having recently posted to the blog is bugging me. And I don't really have time to post tonight, so I'm posting this video instead from the second Ghost in the Shell movie. None of the follow-ups to the first movie even come close to matching the brilliance of the first. However, the lighting in this video is dramatic and brilliant, and I want to share it here.

I love how Japanese animators often mimic photo-realistic lighting and effects in their works. I remember the first time I saw a Japanese Anime that incorporated depth of field into the animation, as though you were really watching a film and not an animation. I was blown away; these aren't the cartoons I remember as a kid.

Around 2:14 when the poem continues "...flowers in bloom..." I love how the light begins to wash over the temple. The dynamic range is awesome. The light is bright enough that there are "blown" washed-out highlights everywhere. At the same time, while you have deep, deep shadows of pure black, there are enough midtones that light feels right. If you somehow saw this during a parade, it would be a very special moment, and that feeling comes across in the animation.

Last but not least, the imagery is pretty cool. I like the idea of gods who descend to Earth, forgetting their godhood while they go about leading their lives -- though I might be reading a whole lot of optimism into a rather depressing song:

Through day and night, the moon not coming,
In grief, Nue will sing.
When I look back,
flowers will fall away.
The heart of solace, having withered.
In a new world, Gods will descend,
the dawn will break, and Nue will sing
Flowers in bloom, pray to Gods.
Lamenting over their being in this world of life,
their dreams having faded away, flowers grieve and fall.

Never mind that though. I love the music. I love the lighting. And I sometimes listen to it more than once.

I've been very, very, very, very, very, very bad. I've been playing the new Warhammer Online, like, a lot. The game has all the appeal, and addictiveness that Warcraft had.

I added a new Warhammer photo set on Flickr where I'll post some screenshots now and again. For anyone that cares, the Age of Conan pictures are there too. And eventually I'm going to put up all the old Warcraft shots.

The first two Warhammer shots aren't great -- just a quick couple ones to show off my current main: a Magus named "Zarathustra." My Warcraft main, Mirrors, will make a return as a Zealot, but a girl only has so much time.

The game isn't nearly as nearly pretty as Age of Conan. And I miss Damascus. But what it lacks in pretty, it makes up for in gameplay and mechanics.

In other news, Mom and I are going to Key West this weekend. I'm looking forward to some relaxing time in the Keys. I'm not sure what Mom has in mind, but I'd like to kick back with some books and do a whole lot of nothing.

Last but not least, in case you somehow manged not to see it yet, I'm posting the Large Hadron Rap video. It just begs to be shared. They get all the science right, except for the fact that the Higgs particle will be found right away. More importantly though, it's really catchy. I won't say exactly how many times in a row I've watched it.

Expect more blogging while I'm in the Keys! --I can't play Warhammer while I'm down there.