Angry the Clown

Some retail listings in Europe are showing up for a Karate Kid collection (just the original trilogy). I'd welcome that, though hopefully they do individual releases too as I already own the disc of the first film.

This game from the Playstation showcase looked rather charming:

That's actually quite in keeping with how he was written in the original mythology.

Only the PC port by the sounds of it. PS5 is in house at Naughty Dog. "Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will be available in early 2022 for PS5. The PC version is in development by our partners at Iron Galaxy and will release shortly after the PS5 version. As these dates approach, we’ll discuss more details. https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/uncharted-legacy-of-thieves-collection-coming-to-ps5-and-pc/

That's precisely it, yes. It's not so much the song, but the decades of lazy music editors reaching for it as their go to "druuuuugs" song of choice in media, that's made me come to hate it over time to the point where it just makes me cringe whenever I now here it. Here, I agree it works... just don't put it in the movie too.

I'll be interested to see. I can't help but think they will definitely start afresh with the music and bring in a new composer for the score though given accusations made against Soule a few years back.

Crazy to think of this as a Playstation console exclusive. Never would have bet on such a thing. It's going to feel strange given how KOTR was associated with Xbox. I'm very much looking forward to seeing this re-imagined though. Aspyr have a big task ahead of them and hopefully they'll live up to the challenge. It sounds like an almost bluepoint like level of commitment to a remake that they're making here.

It would certainly be mine if I had the funds to go for an SL lens, but really only for paid purposes. I don't think I'd enjoy running around with an SL+SL lens as my day to day or travel camera. An SL with one or two of those dinky Sigma contemporary primes though? That opens up more possibilities if I were desperate for more portable autofocus lenses, but with that EVF I'd be perfectly at ease with M mount lenses.

I never hated the sequels. I had issues with them certainly. Reloaded I actually think is a great bridge in the series, expanding the lore of its universe nicely and capping it with that breathtaking car chase. Revolutions, and how it regularly abandons character development in favour of its set pieces (it frustrated me how Morpheus was barely a presence in the story) was the bigger letdown, though revisiting all three when the 4k discs came out was nevertheless extremely enjoyable and I was pleased how much I was actually enjoying the third film years later, freed from lofty expectations I put upon it on release. The music to all three films is just utterly sublime too. Three of the most sophisticated scores for any film series, criminally overlooked by virtue of the sequels never being held in high regard as films. I'm looking forward to watching them all again ahead of Resurrections. The series is bursting with so many wild and brilliant ideas. So yes, I am absolutely excited for this as the trailer not only left me eager to know just what the hell is going on in this film, but it also doesn't seem to be letting go of its characters in favour of spectacle (which it also clearly has in abundance) which is the most exciting thing. Plus the trailer made me not hate that fucking Jefferson Airplane song, and it ends with a musical tease that they might indeed be looking to reference some Don Davis themes in the score even without him returning (given that they're still willing to associate the main theme with the series for marketing purposes. It bodes well).

Sigma announced two more lenses to their DN 'Contemporary' mirrorless lineup today, a 24mm f2 and 90mm 2.8. As usual they are available for both Sony E mount and Leica/Panasonic/Sigma L mount. 24mm: https://www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/c021_24_2/ 90mm: https://www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/c021_90_28/ It's a damn shame they're not able (allowed?) to bring these to Z and RF mounts right now. I've been pricing up every camera set up of interest under the sun recently along with all the technical/ergonomic pros and cons of each system and by far the biggest knock against a Canon R6 or R5 for me is lack of small lenses that would leave me happy to carry a single camera for work and personal use. The price and size of the higher end RF lenses make it so difficult, and Canon put next to no effort into dampening the noise of the af motors in their smaller and cheaper 1.8 and f2 RF lenses which are otherwise optically excellent. So frustrating. The Sigma Contemporary primes are small, quiet, metal and are typically landing at around a £600 price point.

This is very cute: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/super-mario-64-question-mark-block-71395?p=71395&cmp=social-1ni96g-SHOP

Interesting you went for the 50 over 35. I know you said 28mm was too wide for you on the Q, but is a 76mm equivalent with that lens on the CL not now too tight, or is it simply that the CL gives you the benefit of choice when it comes to lenses? I was looking back over the SL2-S last night. It's still very tempting. While I wouldn't count on its video af for anything (for stills it's fine) it's the camera's other general video features, if one looks beyond its flawed af, where they've really paid attention. L-Log is superb, they were thoughtful enough to put waveforms in the menu options, there's full size HDMI, shutter angle options, the BSI sensor makes it a great low light performer...etc. Basically a lot of cinema camera features you're just not seeing in Canon's hybrids or even Sony's "cinema" branded FX3, and you still get A+ class Panasonic IBIS that nobody is quite matching right now. The main thing lacking is Leica dragging their feet in offering ProResRAW support for external recording (they were supposed to be partnering with Atomos on this but things have gone quiet).

I'd be curious to know whether, in the long run, it cost Sony more or less to have cut Studio Liverpool loose only to then end up buying Firesprite years later. I don't know how many Studio Liverpool staff are actually at Firesprite, or indeed how many of those go as far back as Psygnosis (certainly the key PS1 era Wipeout people went off elsewhere long, long ago). My Wipeout dream was always the hope to see what the original creators would do with it today. I know Nick Burcome was keen to do something if Sony let him have the licence, but that clearly never panned out. I keep wishing for a new Wipeout that was a little bit more like the original three, or just to have the original three remastered.

Will anyone be in Discord for the stream this evening? UK broadcast time is 9pm.

Yes, I appreciate that too, although have I have encountered some occasions where it messes things up. Generally though, it does work, even down to letting me change the artwork.

I definitely like the look of that.

This and Final Fantasy VII Remake are really the remaining PS4 biggies that I have left to purchase and catch up on. I'm honestly not sure why my interest in this waned so fast. I've every intention of playing it, but I did ultimately come to react to media about it with something of a shrug, I think perhaps because it clearly commands a certain level of commitment as far as being in the right headspace is concerned. I need to feel in the right place to embrace its weirdness and apparent monotony, but I can't deny the attraction of its unique singular vision, flawed or not. Hopefully the game itself will really surprise me. I'll see how the price of the Director's Cut looks closer to Christmas (though my intention is to make FFVIII my big game of the holidays).

I love, love, love those SL Summicrons. Spectacular optics across the range and I've always been weirdly impressed that they are all engineered to physically be the same size too. Definitely take a chance to play with your friend's SL2-S if you can. The SL bodies will go to war. They are like carrying a brick around, but honestly not that much heavier than an M (especially with M glass mounted, which they pair with very well). The subtle body refinements over the SL made the ergonomics of the grip better too. The only thing I don't understand is why they changed the strap lugs (I much prefer the ones that didn't protrude on the original SL body). Manual M lens focusing with the enormous EVF in the SL is a match made in heaven too. I still don't feel confident that Leica would have my back if I was looking for opportunities to earn money with their cameras, and right now I'm still in a place mulling over whether that's what I'd like to do with any camera anymore so am not entirely sure which path I want to take. I have video related projects I absolutely want to do, but whether I'm better off focusing on dedicated video cameras or getting a hybrid to still allow me to offer photographic services I am still unsure. Leica's repair turnaround speed, at least in the UK, isn't great, and Brexit's likely made it even worse given that all but the Q bodies (and I think C and T bodies) have to return to Wetzlar for repair. It's odd how they push the SL as a camera pros can use, which it is, but lack anything like Canon, Nikon, Sony or even Fuji's professional service support. If I could invest in two bodies right off the bat for safety it would be less of a concern. The SL2-S costs less than an R5 here which is kind of crazy even when you factor in the technological advancements, mostly af related, in the Canon. Yes, it's frustrating. I've said it before but the worst decision I made was parting with my 5D3 and M9 combo when I did, selling both for the M240. The 240 introduced a number of advancements to the M series that I felt that, while challenging for some paid work, would serve me just fine doing what I wanted to do. To some extent it did as having live view and the option of an EVF made the M quite versatile, but the troubles I had getting it repaired after the rangefinder drifted were a nightmare and soured me on Leica for quite some time, so I grabbed Fuji's XE-2 then and X-Pro 2, both of which I liked despite the fiddly ergonomics and frustrating menus. Even now with the X100V though, there's still something about the x-trans sensor files that I don't quite enjoy working with at the computer. Just a slight mushiness at times for lack of a better word. Fuji's cameras kind of feel made to serve their jpeg processing above anything else. The current X-Trans 4 sensor and processing definitely is an improvement for the quality of their RAW files though. I got the Q after the X-Pro 2 and I really could have held onto that were it not my one and only camera. The M10 was definitely the worthy successor to the M9 that the 240 should have been. I loved my M10-P, but it was sentimentality and PTSD following the loss of a family member I'd been caring for that drove me to trade in the Q towards buying one on an insane emotional whim. It was simply a camera I could not justifiably afford hanging on to, particularly since my glasses really only limit me to using a 50mm comfortably with an M. That's been a big lesson for me, and one many purchases have taught me but took me an age to actually heed, as while I don't get into debt buying any of this stuff I definitely need to think twice about just how much I can justifiably spend on a camera for personal use and not leave myself anything leftover for another camera for other purposes. My last Leica was the SL which I got as I wanted a workhorse camera again for paid assignments people were showing interest in hiring me for, and despite my hesitation about using any Leica for paid work, I was heavily swayed by the fact I could still hang on to my M lenses. Things were starting to well at the end of 2019 and I even had a video project that I felt confident the original SL would serve me just fine for.... but then 2020 happened. When I wasn't sure just what the hell 2020 was going to bring financially I just had to part with everything to give my savings a bump (turned out to be a the right decision however sad it made me). That's great. Curiously the pandemic hasn't compelled me to do much personal photography at all. My X100V arrived right at the start of it, which was just terrible timing, but even as things have eased I just haven't found myself wandering around the depths of the city as much. Things aren't helped by Capture One kicking my ageing laptop's fans into gear for even the most basic of tasks, and my longing to work at a larger screen. The pandemic also severely delayed my getting an eye test which I am seriously overdue for (I finally booked myself one for this Friday).

I know you're joking given how that whole mess has played out, but honestly, if it's all been an attempt at a clever marketing campaign for something else then I think they've failed miserably, and I say at as one who came late to that whole story, never got caught up in it and had to catch up reading about it from the sidelines. Whatever it is just seemed to piss people off rather than keep them entertained and engaged in the way a truly effective marketing campaign should, so if it did in fact turn out to be a ruse leading to the reveal of something great, while I'd welcome that great thing, I wouldn't feel remotely forgiving of the whole affair that lead to a formal announcement.... unless it was a Jumping Flash reboot obviously.

Anything but that bloody Abandoned thing.

I'm assuming lack of Alan Wake trailer today with the announcement means it's being saved for the Sony stream.

Keep going back and clicking the pills because the teasers actually seem randomised and you'll see different footage. How brilliant. The web marketing seems like a real throwback to the original film's website in 1999.

Oh and it's brilliant how the teaser clips on the website tell you what the actual time is while you are watching them. I didn't even catch that first time round.

https://thechoiceisyours.whatisthematrix.com Trailer goes online on Thursday. Click the pills on the website for some teases though. You'll get something different depending on which you choose. I must say it looks gorgeous (John Toll is the cinematographer). It was recently revealed that Tom Tykwer will be scoring the film. I'm sad that it's not Don Davis, but the longer time went on the more it seemed increasingly unlikely they could ever convince him to come back and do it (if they even wanted him to). Of all the other past Wachowski composer collaborators they might have chosen I'm actually glad it's Tykwer as I love the Cloud Atlas score. I'll be curious to know if they make any callbacks to Davis' themes. The score over the logo openings always make me smile.