yeah, but can you drink from it?

 I generally find most novelty mugs dull, but something about this one really puts a smile on my face. It makes a great stocking stuffer for the photographer in your life. Which is why Rob probably thought it the perfect extra little gift for me. 

But I beat him to the punch. 

Because shouldn't spoil ourselves a little at Christmas?

 And you know, it's true what they say. Everything does taste better in a camera lens.

shiny

Whedon on Romney. Click and let hilarity ensue.

the force is with me

We went to the world premiere of the Star Wars Identities exhibition. 

It was FAN-TAS-TIC! I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan (first time I watched Star Wars, I had the choice to watch all six episodes in order), but I love the whole culture that surrounds this phenomenon - the movies are pretty good, too. 

But back to this exhibition: It was fun! You pick a race, shape your character by your upbringing, choices, surroundings, and you get to see a ton of props and costumes from the movies. Best of all, got to meet my buddy R2D2!

The exhibition is on until September 16, so if you find yourself in Montreal before then and looking for something fun and nerdy to do (always!), make your way down to the Montreal Science Centre. On that note, may the force be with you.

Yes, folks, those are Jaba the Hut's eyes
...and our reflection.

there is no try

"Want" does not begin to express my desire to own this hoodie! It would really solidify my status as "big geek" at the office. I'm not too concerned though - still cooler than everyone else there. You know why? Because a) geek is the new cool - well, newish - and b) everyone is cooler than actuaries - yes, even geologists. And especially Jedi.

for rob

No sappy, sentimental emotion here. Just thought you'd enjoy the visual.

Because who doesn't love looking at pictures of nightmarish critters that look like they crawled out of the bowels of hell?

Satanic leaf-tailed gecko

Actually, the ugly bastard's growing on me. He's kinda cute.

phone photo phascination

I went on photo app hunt. It amazes me how good some apps are out there! The ones that come with a fee (and a bundle more features) usually hover around a buck or two, I even found some really good free ones!

Here are my favourite finds:

HIPSTAMATIC:

I've had this one for a while. The first application I ever paid for (and the last, to date).





This application, unlike all the others I've found, does not offer the option to alter a picture that is already in your camera roll.



MYFILM LITE:

As you might tell from the name, this is the free version of another application (myFilm). This one is so much fun and I'm really curious as to what the $0.99 offers more, because it's seems like the free one's pretty complete (maybe it doesn't have name stamp in the corner).

This all look similar because I didn't really play around with the colours yet, but I really enjoy the blur effects and the overall colours can be changed. It's not as "out there" as some, but I think that's what I like about it.

LOFI:

Speaking of out there, this one will definitely completely alter your pictures. You might remember the scone pictures.

It also is the only app that lets make collages. These are only two pictures that the app created, not six.

INSTAGRAM:

I haven't totally figured this one out yet. It's more of a community picture sharing application - something like flickr, but the pictures can only be taken when it's in use (I'm fairly confident). There's a way to save your own pictures to your camera roll, but I don't know how. I've done it, oddly enough, but don't know what I did. Sometimes it's saved, sometimes it ain't.

I really enjoy the sharing factor of this app, you can follow other people, browse the most popular pictures and upload your pictures to other accounts (like your twitter or facebook) and so on.

All these camera applications offer a variety of frames and effects. They all have a little something different to offer. Considering that they were all free to download (except Hipstamatic, which now seems limited in some respects compared to the other free ones), I suggest that you try them out for yourself. Nothing to lose.