National Treasure - Book of Secrets

The first National Treasure movie came out of nowhere and rather stole the Da Vinci Code's thunder by weaving a tale of masonic conspiracies into a fun treasure hunt.

This sequel - Book of Secrets, follows a similar template - this time crafting a conspiracy around an American Civil War confederate plot to discover the City of Gold in order to finance their efforts to secure victory. In this treasure hunt, Cage's character is not only in pursuit of unimaginable treasure but also seeking to clear his Great Grandfather's name as Thomas Gates has been smeared as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Presidents play a big part in this film) by Ed Harris' antiquities collector whose motives for doing so are not yet clear.

The annoying sidekick Riley returns, not quite so annoying this time round, as do Gate's girlfriend played by Diane Kruger and Jon Voight as his Dad. As with the rule of sequels - (same + more) - Gate's Mother comes along for the ride (Helen Mirren) as she is needed both to decode an ancient Incan inscription and as a hostage for Ed Harris who, it seems, wants his hands on the treasure.

It's the equal of the first film for the most part - the action scenes are much crisper (even the oldies in Voight and Mirren get to do some action stuff!), and the clues mostly make sense - with the involvement of the US President and the final reveal all following the same logic. A sequel is also nicely set-up.

Loses some minor points for some lazy stereotypes when Gate's hunt for clues takes him to Paris and London ('Gor Blimey'). And, with the cast being bigger this time round, there is not a lot of good lines for the supporting characters who simply are there, at times, to help solve clues and push the plot/hunt along. Oh, and I can't not mention the hairpiece poor Cage is saddled with - it nearly comes a cropper in a few of the action scenes. Guess Hollywood can accept having older actors and bad guys who are receding / thin haired / bald but not their leading men!

I'm a big kid at heart and love adventure films - particularly treasure hunts so this hit the spot nicely. If you have trouble suspending disbelief it might be a film to steer clear of, otherwise it's two hours of light-hearted fun entertainment.

Quantum of Solace - Teaser Poster Out

Staying on a Bond theme, the Teaser Poster for the next Bond (no 22) - Quantum of Solace is out. I like it - it's nice and stark.

To celebrate this small step towards the release of Quantum of Solace in November, I've made a wallpaper from the teaser poster, links below should you want it.

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Aston Martin DB5

Aston Martin DB5
Originally uploaded by Gizmo_Ferguson

I put together a light-box for macro shots this afternoon - see instructions here: diy light box

Was cheap - about £4 pounds for the tracing paper and art card.

Seems to work nicely although I need to sort out my lights.

This is the first shot from it - a model DB5 as driven by James Bond in 'Goldfinger'.

Small Bridge

Small Bridge
Originally uploaded by Gizmo_Ferguson

Was playing around with this photo as it wasn't quite right. The bridge was casting some marvellous shadows but the sky was blown-out.

There is a method for recreating the 'Orton effect' (a film method devised by MIchael Orton who created the technique of combining two images - a sharp layer overexposed by two stops and a blurred layer overexposed by one stop.

This creates a single image with an ethereal glow of an impressionist painting.)

I still wasn't happy so I recalled seeing a photo recently on flickr where a boring sky on an otherwise natural coastline shot had been replaced by a subtle feathered texture and it worked nicely.

As the Orton technique is meant to make the image look like a painting, I applied a canvas texture, and this is the result.

It's different, certainly, but I think more can be done with these techniques.

(Best viewed large by clicking photograph)

Chrissy

Chrissy, as I've christened her, is my Series III 88' Land Rover (hence the land rover cup in the post below).

After a year and a bit of work, she is at the local welder this week for the small welds needed to the chassis. The engine is running sweetly and needs but a service, the gearbox hasn't needed any tlc at all and is, according to other Series landy owners, exceptionally quiet.

The only further matters to tackle before she is back on the road is full oil change (even the axles and cv joints in these old motors need oil), replacement of the master/slave clutch cylinders, new windscreen wipers and possibly a new relay - then it's off for an MOT and hopefully back on the road come the camping season in April if not before.

I know a lot of people object to 4x4 vehicles and they are taxed heavily (mine is a classic and therefore tax exempt) but these vehicles are not neccessarily more polluting simply due to the type of transmission. I also feel that restoring a vehicle, even if it will produce some C02 whilst in use (I plan to fit an LPG tank as part of my wish-list of upgrades as the gas is cheaper and produces less damaging emissions*) is more energy efficient. It would use much more energy, and generate a helluva lot more Co2 to produce a new vehicle - this is recycling in action!

On a side note it is considered that the amount of energy and dodgy chemicals used, particularly in the batteries, in building hybrid vehicles means these vehicles, over their lifetime, will have caused the production of much more Co2 in comparison with a conventionally petrol-engined model.

Besides, classics like this are not meant to be scrapped - roughly 70% of land rovers built are still running according to Land Rover.

I hope to use Chrissy for camping trips and to allow me to get to more remote areas of the country to further my photography. I also do historic re-enactment so she should allow me to cart more stuff to fairs and battles.

Hope you agree she's a beautiful old classic!

First person to figure out why she's called Chrissy I will send a postcard and a local beer to!

*mooted upgrades - finance and SHMBO** permitting:

• Parabolic Springs
• LPG Conversion
• Roof rack
• Roof Top Tent
• Disc Braking
  
• Deep cycle second battery
• Split charging system
• Inverter
  
• Outer Roll Cage - under consideration
  

** She Who Must Be Obeyed (or Wife as they are also known)

Checker Plate Mug

Checker Plate Mug
Originally uploaded by Gizmo_Ferguson

My first attempt to shoot in RAW mode ( a format which delivers the images out of the camera without compression / noise reduction / sharpening or smoothing taking place in-camera as with JPG files).

Certainly gives more control over the image, but as a consequence I need to practice processing better as I think I've left a bit too much noise in this shot (shot at ISO400 light by windowlight which would account for some noise/grain).

Still the highlights on the shiny silver surface are kinda nice.

Us landy-heads can't get enough of checker plating - it's nearly a fetish!

Speaking of land rovers.....see next blog.

Brr, it is absolutely freezing today again. Blizzards, sleet and snow and gale-force winds - and my dog Bez* still wants to go out in it - and that's despite the poor pooch having pulled a muscle and is hobbling along on a mixture of anti-inflammatories and determination.

Apparantly it even snowed in Amman, the capital of Jordan yesterday - a rare event indeed. I flew into Amman from Aqaba once (beautiful place and claimant of the most hours of sunshine yearly) and our plane was delayed for three hours by fog. Yeah, yeah we thought as we all looked at each other nervously, assuming this was Jordanian-speak for the engine being gaffa-taped back on. Perhaps if it can snow in the otherwise sunny capital it can indeed get foggy....

*So named because he has no musical talent whatsoever and is a 'rubbish dancer'!