I'm a Flickr Pro

Sunday night Carina and I watched Shaun of the Dead, lent to us by Mike (after their power was finally restored). Overall it was a fun movie. The beginning is one of the more memorable of the movies I’ve seen lately, with that flair for subtle farce that only the English can really seem to master. The glimpses of faux zombies throughout Shaun’s daily life (on the bus, or in the shops) were truly brilliant. I didn’t mind the record-throwing-at-zombies scene while we watched the film (because it really was a funny bit), but upon reflection I think it’s a little contrived and as such out of place from the rest of the first two-thirds of the movie.

And therein lies the rub. A Mike says the movie is actually two-in-one: a romantic comedy and a zombie flick. The two merge pretty well somewhere around the mid-point of the film without taking away from the humor or pace. The last third, though, is almost all zombie flick, with all the expected scenes and other baggage a standard zombie flick entails. The final scene was jarring enough to really spoil the mood established by the events just prior for Carina and me. I understand why it was done, but if they had to include it, it should’ve been after the credits. As Mike points out, though, that itself (the placing of a final scene after the credits) is a bit tired.

In other news, Carina purchased Flickr Pro accounts for me, herself, and my mom for Christmas! That pretty much solves my complaint against a third-party host for my photos. And just before Chris releases his photo gallery system for WordPress. Ah well…

Monday night we took my folks to the Columbus Zoo to enjoy the Wildlights display. As luck would have it, it was also Wild Ice night, with many wondeful ice sculptures on display. This was the first real opportunity for the twins to use the digital cameras they received for Christmas. We all had quite a good time, and many photos were taken between the six of us. My mom’s already posted her photos to Flickr! My photos of the ice sculptures didn’t turn out quite as nice as I had hoped, so instead I’ve decided to share pictures of the lights and animal exhibits that we saw. We spent a long time in the aquarium, and not just because it was a warm refuge from the bitter cold – the girls (and I!) were totally enthralled with the fish! We saw jellyfish, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (also known as a Weedy Sea Dragon), and a little sea worm that I don’t ever recall having seen before. This little devil was so cute, and Tyler giggled with delight every time he retracted into whatever hole he had dug for himself only to pop out again shortly thereafter.

Carina, the twins, and I had all been to the Wildlights earlier this month. When we went, my camera batteries lost their oomph after only a few photos. This time I was lucky to get so many more photos. Of course, the batteries still lost their oomph before we were done! Incidentally, I am super pleased with my Canon A95 digital camera. I spent a long time deciding which model to buy, and experienced a little buyers regret after committing to the A95, thinking that perhaps a fancy SLR model would be better for me (despite the fact that I’ve never used an SLR ever, and I know squat about apertures, f-stops, or anything else!). The A95 was a great buy, though: the quality (in auto mode) is superb, and the bells and whistles allow me to do some fun stuff. I’ve been fiddling around a lot with macro photos:

The A95 also has a continuous shutter mode, to let me take sequences of "action shots", though I haven't had occasion to use that yet. The feature I most love about the A95, though, is the swivel LCD screen! It lets me angle the camera in some creative ways and still see what it is I'm framing. The swivel screen is exactly how I captured the turtle on Monday, as he was wedged right in the corner of his tank.

The kids’ digital cameras are only 1 megapixel cameras, so the quality isn’t superb (about that of a decent camera phone, it seems to me), and the lack of flash will limit what they photograph; but they’re excited to use them! Tayler took some nice pictures at the zoo, and I suspect that Tyler, too, has a few real gems. I’m looking forward to spending time with each of them to help them learn to take their time to take the pictures they want. Plus, it’ll be fun to use the imaging software bundled with the cameras to make some silly composited images! As soon as we whip something up, I’ll post it!