Drawing with Light | The tricks and tips to make this effect.

Last semester, I had a photography class, where they taught us the basics of controlling a reflex camera, and some nifty tips of how you can use it to make cool pictures.

My favorite one was the class when we were making drawings with light in the dark.

The camera needs to be in its manual position, on the BULB setting, which allows a slower capture, as long as the button remains pressed. 

The trick itself is pretty simple to do...with the what your camera does is open its diaphragm for a longer exposure time, allowing more light to come through the lens. The camera keeps capturing the flow of light until the shutter is released.

So, what you need to do this is a dark room, or being outside at night. The darker, the better. Also, be sure you have space to move, because sometimes you bump into things, or you get out of frame.

A tripod, if possible. To allow the camera to remain still and get a nice shot. 

Also, if you can do it with someone else, its better; he or she can press the button while you draw, or viceversa. Another option, if you are by yourself, is giving a predetermined time lapse, like 20s or so, instead of the BULB option. That way, you don't need to be pushing the button all the time.

Any device that emits light is good for this experiment. It can be of many colors, a strobelight, fireworks...even your cellphone screen.

Now, stand in place...and draw anything you like!

If you wish to write something, take into consideration that it will be backwards. Mirror it and practice how will you trace the word backwards. You can cover the light source, in case you want to separate your letters or something like that.

You can have a separate light source to illuminate the person drawing, to give it a different touch. Because, without this extra light, this person may look like a ghost.

This will give awesome results...beautiful drawings floating effortless in front of you.

You can try it out!

 

 

The Stanley Parable | Messing with your mind since 2011

Tonight, I want to talk about one of my favorite games of all time, not for its awesome graphics or gameplay, but for something entirely different...the mindblowing narrator...literally...

I'm talking about The Stanley Parable, for PC.

It revolves around a man named Stanley, obviously. He works in a company where the only thing he does is push the buttons on a computer as ordered by the monitor. He was happy with his job, and it had always been like that. However, one day everyone in the building dissapears. And you're stuck there with only your thoughts...and a narrator who explains every step you take, and directs you to where the story needs to go.

However, the objective is not a single one. It all depends in your sense of humour...or your ability to follow orders. The outcome varies depending on every little thing you do differently.

It's an expansion from the Half Life 2 mod developed by Galactic Café on the Source Engine, in 2011.

This new version is remasterized, and was released on 2013, with many new details, stories and endings.

It's really well-thought. And it plays with your mind. The game itself seems simple, graphically speaking. But the ability of the player of meddling with the 4th wall, or the appearance of it, is what grabs my attention.

The narrator, Kevan Brighting, is such a brilliant voice actor. That british accent totally serves its purpose of keeping an interesting experience. Yeah, it may not be an action-packed game, but it certainly a very interesting one to play. It's more of an unique experience you need to get.

All the alternative endings are quite clever and well-planned, and they give you the opportunity to search for them all.

It's a high-recommended game from me, and it also got named as one of the top games of 2013, among other awards.

You should check it out.

It's available on Steam now.

E3 | Assassin's Creed Unity, Project Morpheus and Super Smash Bros | Highlights

Ok, so...it's already that time of the year. The E3 is in the house, bringing us the highlights of new releases, events, tournaments and many other things, of the biggest brands in the gaming industry.

Since I'm like...really far away (another country, for that matter), it was a no-no to go there, but luckily, the livestreams do exist, which is cool.

So much information was released these past few days, and I was able to catch the streams for both Microsoft and Nintendo, and a friend told me about a couple of things about the Sony Press Conference.

I know there are still many awesome and important things that they announced...but I'm gonna talk about the ones that caught my attention.

First up: The Microsoft Press Conference. 

Assassin's Creed Unity. Awesome! I'm fangirling over this. I'm an AC fan from the beginning of the series. My favorite game was Assassin's Creed 2, and my least favorite has to be AC: Black Flag, just because I was lousy at sailing ships. But aaaanyway.
This time, the plot takes place in Paris, during the French Revolution. The people rising up, against the government.
One of the highlights of this game is the usage of strategies to assassinate your targets, instead of just running against him with the hidden blade.
Also, the COOP mode could be awesome, up to 4 players.

The cinematic trailer alone makes me happy. Check it out.

Other games that I'm waiting from Microsoft are: Fable: Legends, Halo 5: Guardians, Tom Clancy's The Division, and Call of Duty: Advance Warfare.

Now: for Sony and its PlayStation 4.

The releases of Mortal Kombat X, Uncharted 4, and Metal Gear Solid 5: The Pantom Pain, along with Far Cry 4, seemed cool. Especially Mortal Kombat, just because I like fighting games.

But also, the announcement for Project Morpheus and its many demo releases, including a castle demo, a luge demo, and a playable Valkyrie demo. All of them along with the virtual reality of the device.

IGN made a little review of the release, so check it out.

The other relevant thing for me was the Invitational Super Smash Bros. Tournament.

I got to watch the whole event. It seemed intense, man. 

16 of the top SMB players of many countries around the world were gathered at E3, to fight against each other to obtain the title of champion of the new relase of the game for the Wii U.

New characters like Megaman and the Wii Fit Trainer, among others, were used. And you could be able to watch their new smashing moves.

The crowds were also invited to interact, voting for their fan favorite players. It was cool to see all the boards, decorated with the character images. And the wild occassional Pikachu that wasn't even playing at that moment.

The winner was Gonzalo Barrios from Chile. He used Zero Suit Samus as his character.

Nevertheless, I was rooting  for Kirby and its user, HungryBox.

Also, during the stream, there were mixed reviews by the viewers, according to Neha's gameplay with the Wii Fit Trainer, accusing her of "camping" too much. But hey, it could be an strategy based on the character movements. But still, the tournament was cool to watch.

Yeah, those were my shallow reviews.

Be sure to check out the streams for the next events.

HANGOVER | The Follow Up of Gangnam Style and Gentleman?

Hey guys!

Today I spent all day looking at code for apps I didn't understand at all...and I'm just arriving home, and sitting in front of my computer.... my brain hurts...

Anyways, due to the lack of topic, I just had the chance to watch the new PSY's video called HANGOVER, in which he works with American Rapper Snoop Dogg (or Lion)...and my first thoughts were..."What the hell did I just watch?"

That's what I normally think about anything random...but this time I'm frankly confused about it.

I mean, I liked Gangnam Style; it was cool and unexpected. And it really catapulted PSY to fame.
I thought Gentleman was OK, the rhythm of it was nice and funky.
But this one...I don't even know...the rhythm is off...and it's too repetitive...it's all over the place, but that's probably the way they wanted it.

Yes, alcohol everywhere...and what comes after partying like crazy...not my favorite topics, but hey...this is normal now...The typical scene of people throwing up in the bathroom, and the illusions provoked by the high levels of booze in your system...yeah...

Snoop sings most of the lyrics, leaving PSY with a couple of them. Or maybe I was just confused about the whole thing, that it appeared to me that it was all Snoop's voice...I don't know.

I don't hate anything usually, but I have mixed feelings about this.

I leave the video for you to make a conscious decision for yourselves.

GINTAMA | Sarcasm, indecent jokes, parodies and no sense whatsoever...but still AWESOME!

My favorite ANIME series of all time has to be GINTAMA. Period. Why is that? Because of it's randomness. Gotta love the randomness, man. Everything about it is random. Just imagine this: The Samurai Era...in the future...with aliens invading the Earth....yeah...that's pretty much it.

To sum it all up, the story focuses on three main characters and their lifes fighting poverty: Sakata Gintoki, who is a samurai, with a wooden sword, a silver perm, and a sweet tooth. He's the founder of the Yorozuya, or a "Jack-of-All-Trades" shop.

In the past, he fought on the Great Joui War, which point was to fight against the Amanto, or the aliens who invaded the planet.

He has a dirty mouth, yet he still talks with wisdom in his very own way. But he talks about himself as a "child in a man's body" most of the times. He would do anything to get the latest JUMP issue.

He's a great swordsman, very strong, and with a strong belief of the Bushido code.

But normally he's just lazy, trying to avoid any kind of responsability.

The next character is Shimura Shinpachi, who is a samurai apprentice under Gintoki's guardianship...supposely. He works and lives with the Yorozuya. He and her sister Otae have inherited a dojo from their father, but they can't mantain it. So they both have to work to do so.

He's the centered-regular-normal character from the whole saga. Probably the least wacko of them all, because he's always trying to keep under control the team...and mostly every other character in the anime. 

Last but not least, Kagura is a member of the Yato Clan; the strongest warriors of the Amanto, who are normally hired as killers. She's an adorable girl at first glance, but she's a lousy talker, kind of a bully, no manners, and an infinite appetite. She hates sunlight, so she always carries with her an umbrella. And her pet is an alien giant dog, named Sadaharu, who likes to bite people's heads.

 

It's a very wide theme treated by the story, so there are many little stories within it.

And the variety of characters is the same.

To name a few; there's a sadomasoquist kunoichi who is practically blind without her glasses, a samurai rebel who's always correcting how people mention his name ("It's not Zura...it's Katsura"), with a weird pet that looks like an old guy with just a blanket over him with a face of a penguin, a Shinsengumi vicecaptain with an addiction to mayonaisse, a sadistic captain who's always trying to kill the vicecaptain, the commander who's always stalking Shinpachi's sister and is always being confused with a gorilla... amongst maaaaaany others.

  

  

The most particular thing about these series is that they are always making references and parodies of many other animes and real life events; including One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Beelzebub, Dragon Ball, Evangelion, Kuroshitsuji, ...it even makes parodies of videogames, such as Super Mario Bros or Street Fighter, or movies like Star Wars y Rocky. I can't believe that they had all the permissions to do so, or how are they not receiving any kind of fine. But I don't care. It's genius.

  

 

It also tries to temper with the 4th wall; the characters are always trying to correct or critizice the way the author, or the animators made their stories or situations they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Furthermore, I extremely recommend it. It's brilliant and it will always make you laugh...in one way or another.

Inglorious Basterds | A whole different vision of WWII

**DISCLAIMER: MAY CONTAIN A BIT OF SPOILERS OF THE MOVIE**

One of my favorite movies of all time has to be INGLORIOUS BASTERDS...just because it gives the whole World War II an alternative ending.

Directed by Quentin Tarantino, the movie focuses on two sides of the story, trying to achieve the same goal...killing Adolf Hitler and stopping the Nazi faction. 

It's nice to see the whole plot of both sides; they all have their own particular personality that makes them interesting...Hell, even the SS Colonel Hans Landa, who was part of the Nazi Faction was really well portrayed by actor Christopher Waltz. In my opinion, his acting was brilliant. It's one of those characters that, even though they're evil, you can't help to like. Full of sarcasm and witty comments.

The first faction was a group of Jewish-American soldiers, with Lieutenant Aldo Raine as their leader, to infiltrate the enemy lines in the Germany Occupied France. Brad Pitt took that role, and I liked how he portrayed the character. I'm not much of a Brad Pitt fan, but in this movie, he was cool. His character makes a contract with these soldiers...They OWE Raine 100 Nazi Scalps, cut right off 100 nazi soldiers' dead bodies. 

Yeah...that's pretty much it.

But my favorite character from this group has to be Donny Donowitz, nicknamed "The Bear Jew"...he's just a badass with a bat, just eager to beat the crap out of Nazi Soldiers. Eli Roth's performance was awesome. Even though he doesn't talk that much, sometimes actions say more than words.

The second plot, however, involves a young French-Jewish girl named Shosanna Dreyfus. Her family gets slaughtered by Hans Landa, and she wants revenge against the Nazi party. She owns a little cinema where, through random chance, she meets a Nazi Hero soldier, Frederich Zoller, who falls in love for her. But the vengeance is stronger than any feelings she might develop for him.

To sum it up, it's an awesome film, if you like action-packed, history-related movies, with that Tarantino twist. I fully recommend it.

Neapolitan Flan - Sweet, easy to make and quite delicious.

One of the activities I enjoy doing on my free time is cooking desserts. I discovered this joy of mine not long ago and, even though I'm not a master at the kitchen, I try my best to make them work.

For today's post, I'll explain how to make one of my favorite desserts of all time...el FLAN NAPOLITANO or CRÈME CARAMEL, which is a custard-type dessert, normally vanilla-flavored, with a covering of caramel.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 eggs.
• 1 can of evaporated milk.
• 1 can of abridged or condensed sweetened milk.
• 1 bar of creme cheese (aprox. 190 gr)
• 1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract.
• 1/2 cup of regular sugar.

TOOLS YOU'LL NEED:

• A blender.
• A metal pot.
• A knife
• A big glass baking pan (I used two little ones, since the big one was being used at the moment)
• A wooden spoon.
• A pressure cooker.
• An oven rack (or some little pot to put into the pressure cooker)

The preparation is fairly simple. It should be noted that this is the way I do it. There may be some things that are easier to do in some other way, but this is the way I find it better.

First of all, you can place the eggs, the evaporated milk, the condensed milk, the cheese and the vanilla extract in the blender. You can help the blender mix the cheese properly by cutting the bar in little pieces with a knife. Mix it all together until you get a nice mixture, not too liquid, but strong enough.

In the meantime, in the metal pot, put the half cup of sugar and heat it up, until it dissolves into a nice caramel. Be careful!! The sugar tends to burn fast, so make sure you stir it up constantly.

As soon as it's done, pour the hot caramel into the glass baking pan (or pans) and let it cool off, until it hardens.

Now, you can prepare your pressure cooker with the oven rack inside, and poor some water in it; make sure the water level doesn't reach the top of the rack, since it will be used as a base to cook the flan in Baño María (double boiler). The pressure cooker will be filled with steam, so the flan will cook nicely.

Pour the mixture into the pans, and cover it or them with tin foil. This will make sure the water doesn't drain into the flan. Now, place the pan on top of the oven rack, and close the lid.

Leave it cooking, when the whistle starts blowing, count from 25 minutes to half an hour.

When the time's up, turn off the stove and let the cooker cool down. Take out the flan and let it cool down as well. Or carefully put it in the fridge.

There you have it. I hope I made myself clear enough.
It's an easy recipe for you all sugar fans.
Give it a try!