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...An Angel :)
#MacroMonday
#Bells
I guess it must be Macro Monday. And as it happens, it's also Earworm Monday once again :) But first things first (the earworm will be playing nonstop in your heads now anyway), there really is an angel in this image.
Have you ever heard of those people who never put away their Christmas decoration, because they love all the lights and decorations so much that they celebrate the entire year? I'm not one of them, but in order to participate in the "Bells" theme, I had to get the ladder and climb up to the subceiling to get one of those carefully wrapped-up Christmas Bells. Because these are the only bells I have at home: porcelain (and one made of glass) bells as Christmas tree decoration. German porcelain manufacturer Hutschenreuther (which now belongs to Rosenthal) makes, among other things, seasonal collector's editions for Christmas and Easter, and through the years we've collected quite many Christmas baubles and bells. The bell in my image, however, is the above mentioned single glass bell (manufactured by Rosenthal); it was designed by Danish artist Bjørn Wiinblad (1918-2006) who was one of Rosenthal's chief designers for almost 50 years.
The bell is made of clear glass and it's decorated with golden stars and a harp-playing angel. The backside of the angel is the golden background on the right part of my photo. The bell has a beautifully high, clear, kind of joyous sound ('Tis the season!) created by the small clapper which dangles on a small, 4 cm / 1,5 inches long, silver chain. When I saw the chain, I immediately thought "bokeh!", and since the bell itself is rather big (it has a diameter of 5 cm / 1,9 inches and, at 9 cm / 3,5 inches height, is also too big for the MM frame), I decided to focus on the clapper inside of the bell which is made of a small glass ball that is 0,8 cm / 0,31 inches in diameter.
The image is a manual focus stacking made of only four images (combined in Helicon Focus), because I wanted the clapper to be sharp all over. As illumination I've used two LED lamps, one directed against a golden-coated piece of cardboard (which I've kept from a chocolate marshmallow box – the "golden" cardboard makes a great reflector), and the other lamp was equipped with a blue glass tealight holder for some nice blue light. Processed in HDR Efex and Luminar AI. HDR Efex often is like a photographic surprise bag, results vary between "magnificent" and "downright horrible", depending on the respective image. Here, HDR Efex kind of worked wonders and brought out the clapper's glass texture really beautifully. As finishing touches, I've slightly tweaked the colours' saturation and luminosity, and added a subtle glow in Luminar AI.
Happy Macro Monday, Everyone, stay safe and healthy – and don't forget: There's always a reason to celebrate the season :)
I haven't posted a calculator for a long time ... for those that aren't aware, i've got a museum that showcases the evolution of this technology from the slide rule days to now. This includes HP prototypes and some rare items. I've got a display case in my office that houses the most interesting ones.
The Hewlett Packard 15C was the most powerful of the Voyager series of HP calculators. It was originally produced between 1982 and 1989. It was highly capable for such a small machine, programmable with numeric integration, root solver, matrices and complex maths.
Whilst its financial sibling, the 12C, has remained in continuous production since 1981, the 15C was dropped in favour of the Pioneer series of calculators in 1989.
There was a strong push for HP to re-release the 15C (which could share the same casing and processor as the modern 12C). HP eventually produced a 'Limited Edition' re-release of the 15C in 2011. I thought this would be the last incarnation of the 15C, but no ... the 'Collector's Edition' was released last year (2023). Some subtle differences such as no "Hewlett Packard" writing along the bottom line below they 'f' and 'g' keys. But it's got an amazingly fast processor that would put an original 15C to shame on a complex calculation.
The Canadian Geographic Best Wildlife Photography 2017 Issue is available now!! My Wolf is the cover and inside on pages 72-73 and I'm the featured photographer on pages 96-97. Nice to see so many familiar names and the outstanding wildlife photography in this issue including my shooting partners double page spread
:-D
Looking close... on Friday! - Creative or Unusual Packaging
DVD case for the Collector's Edition of the 8th season (1996-97) of The Simpsons TV series. Contains one of my favourite episodes, "El Viaje Misterioso De Nuestro Jomer", with the guest voice of Johnny Cash.
Her name means "night", and she take walks in the forest at night for a reason.
"But wait a minute..! The dawn breaks! Is it already that late? Or that early..? I have to go! I'll tell you about it another day!"
The weirdest thing... I had my preorder cancelled by Amazon since Universal retracted the release of the collector's edition blu-ray box (the one with the DeLorean replica included) and so there was no way to buy one... except that there was ONE box lying around at FNAC reduced price and all, begging me to buy it... I still don't know how or why or if McFly himself put it there but lo and behold the cancelled product was there! Admitted, I can understand why they cancelled the release, the replica really isn't all that nice...
Thanks for your comments and faves, critique welcome!
Close-up of 1984 Ovation Collector's Edition 6-string Guitar, showing the grain of the spruce top and the 5 beautiful woods used in the epaulets.
There she is, the nocturnal girl I've been secretly following for weeks. I finally managed to capture her...
She only goes out at night, when the sun retires from the day. If there's moonlight, all the better. She always has her umbrella with her, just in case she's carried away and stays out late until daylight. That's why she keeps an eye on the horizon, to be on the safe side...
Toys R Us Exclusive Collector's Edition
She is $29.99
I coudn't figure out a nice way to debox this doll without totally destroying the box. I don't think you will be able to take her out and then put her back in again.
InfoGraphic: Visual timeline of the Battlestar Galactica universe, incorporating key points from the original series and "Caprica." NEW: High-rez version now available: www.flickr.com/photos/59286070@N05/5593262639/
Horde cover of the hardbound double-sided book containing the "Elegy" and "A Good War" novellas. Came with the World of WarCraft: Battle for Azeroth Collector's Edition.
Photo-a-Day: Year 10, Day 229 - Total Days: 3,516
Photo-a-Day: Year 10, Day 226 - Total Days: 3,513
Even though I've been playing the game since yesterday at 3pm, today I was able to pick up my actual boxed copy of the Collector's Edition this morning. It was weird playing the game before having the boxed version, but thanks to the digital pre-order and automatic store credit when converting to the collector's edition, I decided to do it that way instead of my normal method of waiting for the boxed copy.
I already got my Draculaura collectors edition today and here she is! She's even more gorgeous than I imagined! She's also the first Monster High that I'll be keeping in the box!
Macro Mondays: Game Pieces
Collector's edition Peanuts Monopoly.
Explored - highest position: 127 on Friday, August 1, 2008 - thanks, everyone!
The Canadian Geographic Best Wildlife Photography 2017 Issue is available now!! My Wolf is the cover and inside on pages 72-73 and I'm the featured photographer on pages 96-97. Nice to see so many familiar names and the outstanding wildlife photography in this issue including my shooting partners double page spread
:-D
I had a few ideas and tried a couple of different things before "Batman" popped in my head. Believe it or not this not in black and white, the statue was painted in black and white.
Photo-a-Day: Year 10, Day 227 - Total Days: 3,514
Awesome medallion that came with the World of WarCraft: Battle for Azeroth Collector's Edition! Horde on one side, Alliance on the other. Since my main character is Horde, I had to start off that way for photos ;-)
"Navy Commander Alan Shepard, 37, father of two girls, 13-year-old Laura and 9-year-old Juliana, had no desire to be a hero.
"What drove him to volunteer for the potentially dangerous task of probing the void beyond our planet? Mostly, it was the chance to serve his country in a role for which he felt well qualified, but also because he saw it as a personal challenge.
"No daredevil, he has a great, restless desire to do everything well, and then to do it a little better than the other fellow. As an astronaut, he could pit his strength against man and Nature with the added incentive of a thrilling ride beyond the Earth's atmosphere in a space capsule.
"This unusual and timely book tells the whole story of Commander Shepard and his fantastic journey into outer space." [From the Introduction]
Interesting perspective of the space program from 1961. Chapter 11 presents some speculations of what NASA had on the drawing board at the time, including the "Apollo Orbiting Laboratory," which would be lifted up not by the Saturn V, but by the more powerful and as yet undeveloped Nova rocket.
I'm honored that two (yes - two!! ) of my photos are in the running to grace the cover of the Canadian Geographic Collector's Edition - Best Wildlife Photography Of The Year. My Red Fox & Pine Marten photos were both taken in Algonquin Provincial Park and I'd love your vote!!
www.canadiangeographic.ca/contests/coverVotes/SIP2015_wil...
eluniversode@mageritdoll.com .Forsale. Paypal or Bank transfer. Eligible for International Shipping.
BOUTIQUE ONLINE La Maison de Mageritdoll (España/Spain)
ESTILO/Style
Mageritdoll
Design/ Art Toy -- Juguete de Diseño
+ KIDROBOT - PESKIMO - BAMBOO ZOO - MAURICE
VIDEOs
www.youtube.com/playlist?feature=c4-feed-u&list=PLOC-...
INVASIVE CREATURES
CRIATURAS INVASORAS
HACIA LO SALVAJE, INTO THE WILD
(SPECIES)
Colección: "Del espacio exterior"
Collection: " From Outer Space"
Ella es rara, peculiar y de difícil definición. Algunos dirían que no es de este mundo, y en verdad ella sueña con otro Universo.
She is rare, peculiar and difficult to define. Some would say that she is not of this world, and in truth she dreams of another Universe.
FECHA/Date
2013
2013
Photo: LMdM
FORMATO
Alto: 6 centímetros. Tall: 6 centimeters
Juguete de Diseño de Resina. Resin Toy
Juguete de Autor único.
One of a kind Toy.
Handmade Toy.
La Maison de Mageritdoll es la personalidad de un Juguete de Diseño
La Maison de Mageritdoll is the personality of an artistic Toy.
CREADOR/Designer
Cristina Alonso del Chicca
mageritdoll.com/blog
www.lamaisondemageritdoll.com
FACEBOOK fanpage
www.facebook.com/pages/Mageritdoll/206771902673027
© La Maison de Mageritdoll ®
Ravensburger
Collector's Edition
Ref 15306
card
1,000 pieces
69.9 x 49.7 cm
TED: "The Backle of Traffalger seems to be a poppuler subjekt fer jigsaw pussles, an' this one's one of the nicest I've dun.
I dun the border first cuz the yeller an' red wuz eazy, an' I wuz able to read the stuff like them flags wot spells out a messij - 'Inglund expekts' an' all that.
Then I dun the pikchur of Nelson - I bet 'is nickname wussn't 'Lucky' cuz 'e'd alreddy lost an eye an' a arm! - before I finnished up doin' the ships.
A luvly pussel but I'm not gonna keep it."
Welcome again, one and all. A bit of a shift in gears today, though nothing too crazy. Today, we look at one rare-ish Figma, SP-006 Cute from Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos.
So, once upon a time (2004 ish), Sony wanted to play ball in the portable console market to challenge the then leader, the Nintendo DS. What they came up with is the Playstation Portable, or PSP. Technologically, it could be described as a Playstation 1.5 - more powerful than the original PSX, but nowhere near PS2 levels. The system officially lasted until 2016, at which time the PS Vita (RIP) was in full swing.
As is the way with consoles, there are console exclusive games, and sometimes, these games come with exclusive goodies. Such is the case for several PSP titles, including the first Queen's Blade release - Spiral Chaos. Never played it, but I do know that the Collectors Edition Japanese releases came with an exclusive Figma.
The Figma is of a character named Cute, a Queen's Blade entry created specifically for this game. MSRP for this set was 9,800 Yen, which I believe was the game, a CD, the figure, and of course the sweet exterior box.
Well, I got bored enough and found a decently priced one on eBay - sadly it didn't come with the game or other goodies, but lets be honest I wouldn't exactly rush out to resurrect my PSP just for this one game.
The figure comes with a decent package for a pack in Figma - there's the figure, three total face plates (neutral, smiling, embarrassed), two blades, a variety of hands, a Shift Body, and the standard Figma stand.
Your first question right now.. what is a Shift Body? Well, in case you were not aware, Queen's Blade has a claim to fame - namely "battle damage" resulting in fighters becoming more and more naked. In most toys and statues, this is replicated by having a cast off feature, something that is even replicated in the Revoltech toys.
Well, Good Smile Company included a separate body to replicate this, which is nice in that it certainly doesn't compromise quality of the outfit on the Normal Body. The unfortunate thing is that the Shift Body is not fully articulated, and is meant to be displayed in one particular pose, outlined on the Instruction Sheet graphic.
The actual design of the character is quite impressive for a game specific appearance, and the Figma itself replicates game art and other such material I've seen. If you look carefully, you'll notice a bunch of yellow crosses - something that should be very familiar to you if you're a PSN gamer. The gauntlets and boots in particular are outlandish (in an good anime way) and they've been carried over to figure form nicely. I also really love the pouch Cute has on her waist. I also like the multilayering and pleats on the skirt.
Interestingly, from a size perspective, Cute is much bigger that the typical Figma 1.0 release, with proportions that are pretty consistent with more modern figures. Yukiko is pretty typical in terms of size of that era of release and Nat is a modern Figuarts (which I had handy) and is about the same size as your typical Figma release - again, all pretty impressive considering the exclusivity of the figure, the minor price increase compared to the standard game release, and the 2009 release date.
Articulation on the figure is average - she's got single jointed knees, hips, waist, shoulders with slight chest compress and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, wrists, and head. Missing (which really hurts) is ankle articulation, which highly limits the dynamic posing potential of Cute, further made worse by the fact the skirt highly limits the range of motion of her upper legs. Couple this with the naturally stiff nature of the Figma 1.0 body, and you get a sense of Cute is probably going to spending more time on standing related poses.
From a paint perspective, this is a high quality product. Paint applications and finishes generally look sharp all over the figure, as well as the Shift Body - the weakest application that I could find would be the white on her torn undergarments. There is some paint build up in areas where you have finer details, such as bows, but its more something I noticed as opposed to being an eyesore.
In general, there's no real complaints with regards build quality. Good use of materials, joints do their job, limb length is proper. In general, QC is good, with the exception of those wrists. I have nightmares about breaking them as the pegs are attached to the hands themselves and replacing them is logistical nightmare. The good news is that the wrists are unlikely to break due because they have a hard time staying in slot, an issue further compounded by the cuffs that restrict how tightly you can press the hand in.
Overall, while a dated figure, Cute still looks pretty good and, more importantly, is very well done for a Collectors Edition add-on... of course we here in North America have been getting shafted for years for these sort of things, and everything looks good compared to us. The only real thing I'd have liked to have seen would be an additional "attacking" face plate.
Best of all, Cute isn't that expensive, and is probably the safest thing you'll ever find to display if you're a Queen's Blade/Gate collector.