The EOS 400d DSLR, also known in the United States as the Digital Rebel XTi, is an entry-level digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera manufactured by Canon, a company that has a very high reputation in the industry for producing quality cameras. They are also particularly well known for their high quality camera lenses, especially the critically acclaimed ‘L’ series lenses.

The camera body itself possesses an aesthetically pleasing quality. Its sleek black plastic and rubber grip areas make this camera look anything but entry level. The EOS 400d comes with a 10.1 mega pixel resolution. This is quite an advantage compared to the other DSLR cameras on the market in the same price range, as most have a resolution around the 6.5 mega pixel mark such as the previous EOS 300d and 350d models.

The camera comes as standard with the Cannon EF-S 18-55mm non-IS (image stabilization) lens. This lens provides the user with a great all-purpose general lens that is easily suited to most photographing situations from wide angle landscape shots to close up portrait shots. The lens mount of the camera is a Canon standard among all EOS models and therefore provides great compatibility with one of the major lens manufactures, giving the user a broad choice when it comes to purchasing lenses for different situations.

Canon EOS 400d DSLR

The camera has several shooting modes, all easily accessed from a small wheel on the right side. These modes include seven preset or ‘auto’ modes such as fully auto, portrait, close-up, sport, night portrait and no flash. As well as the many auto modes for the beginner there are also a selection of manual modes or ‘creative modes’ as Canon identifies them, for the more advanced or professional users such as Program, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual exposure and automatic depth of field. This wide selection of shooting modes provides the user; whether amateur or professional, with enough control over the aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance etc to take professional quality photographs.

The camera hosts a variety of useful features but one that stands out in particular is the self cleaning system. Each time the user turns off the unit; the self-cleaning system initiates and self cleans the sensor on the camera, preventing a build up dust and giving a sharp picture every time.

The EOS 400d has three shooting modes, ‘Single Shot’, taking one picture at a time, ‘Multi-shot’, taking multiple pictures consecutively at a rate of 3 fps (frames per second) and finally a self timer, with the time being indicated by a flashing light on the front side of the camera.

Overall the EOS 400d provides most of the features found on a higher end DSLR such as the Canon EOS 5d with exception to a minor few such as the ability to record video footage.

Bibliography

Canon. Canon EOS 400d Digital SLR Camera. [online] Available at: http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/EOS_400D/index.asp [accessed 18-03-10]

Critical Review of a Comedy Evening
04th March 2010, FymFyg Bar, Bethnal Green, London

The FymFyg Comedy Bar is situated in the heart of cockney territory in the east end of London and normally hosts a fantastic range of comedians of a high caliber. With both new and established comic talent from the British and occasionally international comedy circuit.

The regular compere for the evening was unavailable on the night attended for writing this review although his replacement was not a disappointment. Originally from the Isle of Man, Rob Heeney introduces a fresh take on comedy that illuminates the darker side of humour, although often refraining from causing too much offence with the audience, as most modern comedians tend to thrive off. He gently involved the audience to stimulate a more intimate and relaxed evening before declaring that evening was about love and not about intimidating audience members, followed by a sigh of relief from the audience.

The first act of the evening, Pete Firmin provided a fusion of comedy and magic, although he was clearly a comic and the magic was there to support this. Firmins magic was as funny as it was sad, with poor use of props and a few odd looks from the crowd. He still managed to win the approval of the audience however, perhaps due to the audience taking pity on him. Firmin undoubtedly had the most reputable and glittered career out of the evenings line up, which asks the question, why was he on first?, as they should have saved the best for last.

The second comic of the evening was Juliet Meyers, a graduate of Feminism from Warrick University. This academic background was evident throughout her routine as she made several references to feminism, which the sparsely populated female audience applauded with cheer.

Next up on stage was Craig Murray, an accomplished actor and award-winning comedian however tonight he was not winning much, especially the welcome of the crowd. His jokes fell flat several times leaving the room with a distilled awkward silence.

Marlon Davis was the headline act for the evening, as a recent winner of the FHM Search for a Stand-up Hero award the audience had higher expectations than he could live up to. His routine was inspired from his working class upbringing in east London. His jokes echo similar themes to those made earlier on in the evening by compere Rob Heeney. Although he explored the darker side of living in east London he presented his experiences without a shameful tone. He started off with a great topical joke and began building up a great momentum, which he unexpectedly lost at some point during one of his drawn out gags where he seemed to have forgotten the point of the joke causing the audience to rapidly lose interest.

The FymFyg bar provided a great night of light entertainment without too much pressure on the audience to unwillingly participate in the comedian’s gags.

Bibliography

http://www.thefymfygbar.com/
http://www.beyondcompere.com/home/profile/marlon-davis

Film Review: Valentine’s Day
Directed by Gary Marshall
Written by: Katherine Fugate
Abby Kohn
Marc Silverstein

Set in sunny California, we follow several simultaneous stories about people’s attempts to live up to the expectations of St Valentines Day. With an all-star cast starring Jessica Alba (Good Luck Chuck), Jennifer Garner (Juno), Ashton Kutcher (What Happens in Vegas) and Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman) Valentines Day results in a fun romantic comedy, if only for the decent acting. Although ‘Valentines Day’ presents itself as a non-typical love film, it ultimately ends up with the same cliché ending as every other romantic comedy.

“Valentines Day” tells the stories of a bad valentines day that we don’t want to hear but are more than likely experiences that we as an audience have all dealt with. We see lots of “unromantic” stories such an affair with a married doctor, a gay American football player, and a guy caught waiting naked in his girlfriends house only to be caught be her mum. However, the film balances out slightly with teen romance between high school dancer Felicia, played by singer, now turned actor Taylor Swift and her athlete boyfriend. We also see a cheesy love story between a young kid named Edison (Bryce Robinson) and the girl of his dreams, who at the end of the movie we find out, was actually his teacher.

Jessica Alba is seen as somewhat of an unlikable character in this movie, mainly due to her turning down her boyfriend Reed’s (Ashton Kutcher) proposal and leaving him pretty early on in the movie. Kutcher plays the same role he has done in pretty much every movie he has made, but his happy, clumsy, naive personality really suits this role. Julia Roberts, despite once being the most paid actress in Hollywood, doesn’t spend much time in the movie, with her character Captain Kate Hazeltine being on a long haul flight to Los Angeles. During the flight she becomes friendly with Holden played by Bradley Cooper, and we start to think at the end of the flight there is going to be a cliché kissing scene, when quite unexpectedly, Holden sends her home in his limousine and they go their separate ways, with us finding out at the end that Holden is infact gay.

Although the cast is some of the best talent Hollywood has to offer at the moment, it gives the audience higher expectations than the movie could ever possibly live upto. By the time the audience had left the cinema, the story had already been forgotten. This doesn’t prevent it in anyway from providing two hours of light entertainment, however.

- Christopher Till

The track listing on ‘The Final Cut’ has taken as much care and attention as any other aspect of the album. Each track is carefully placed to make sense both musically and lyrically to the listener and together forms a concept album telling the tragic story of a soldier who is sold a lie and sent to war, only to return and attempt suicide but then is unable to go through with it in the end.

The album eases in with a cinematic track entitled ‘The Post War Dream’, which begins with recordings of news reports regarding the Falklands war and laced with several subtle sound effects familiar with most of Pink Floyds work. The lyrics in the album, although telling the story of a fictional soldier, heavily navigate around political issues and several times refer to ‘Maggie’ who we take to mean ex-prime-minister Margaret Thatcher who was in office at the time of the Falklands War. None of the songs on the album are particularly ‘radio-friendly’ especially considering it was 1983 at the time of release, a time when electronic music was very fashionable. The only song to be released as a single was ‘Not Now John’. This also had to be edited for radio as it contains a lot of what was considered inappropriate language.

The album, although often classified under the genre of rock or ‘prog rock’ incorporates several traits and instruments from the classical music genre such as rich string sections and tenor saxophone. The album also features performances by the national philharmonic orchestra. The hybrid classical rock sound mixed with Waters haunting yet warm vocal on top really etches the feeling and message of the story firmly in the listeners mind.

Although released under the name Pink Floyd. It soon becomes apparent to the listener that is very much a Roger Waters album, with Waters singing throughout the entirety of the album with exception to the powerful rock anthem ‘Not Now John’, on which Gilmour was given the lead vocal. ‘Not Now John’ is also almost the only part of the album where we hear the classic Gilmour guitar sound too, which caused a divide in fans regarding the album, with some feeling Pink Floyd had lost its multi-million album selling sound.Album Review: The Final Cut

Since his blockbuster release ‘Titanic’ in 1997, writer and director James Cameron has been developing and innovating the technological aspect of filmmaking in order to realise his latest vision, Avatar.

Set in the not too distant future, Avatar tells a story of a US marine sent to the newly discovered planet ‘Pandora’, along with a team of others, in search of a new energy source found on this planet. This energy source is guarded by the native humanoids on the planet known as the Na’vi and after several failed attempts to negotiate a deal with the Na’vi the only options left are using the full force of the marines or by an unusual plan conceived by the teams scientists. An artificial clone is created of a Na’vi humanoid and controlled by a human from the safety of a tank in the lab. The clone is then sent out into the wild, beyond the confines of the human base in an attempt to try to befriend the Na’vi and explain the human’s proposition. The story then takes a predictable turn in which lead character Jake’s avatar becomes emotionally involved with a genuine Na’vi female ‘Neytiri’ and for the remainder of the film we see Jake, both in the ‘real world’ and avatar world try and deal with his dilemma, eventually deciding to stay as a Na’vi.

One of the biggest attractions and topics of interest regarding Avatar was that it was shot in 3D. 3D is not a significantly recent development in the film world with several movies since the 1980’s having incorporated 3D into them but with Avatar it was different. Along with ‘Vince Pace’ of PACE, James Cameron, over the last few years had developed a new camera specifically designed to shoot in 3D. The PACE Fusion camera brought a new edge to the 3D cinema experience and it seems now that 3D cinema is no longer just a gimmick to boost box office ratings but instead a welcomed addition that adds something extra to the film.

For possibly the first time in film history we have reached a point where its now possible for the audience to become emotionally attached to an artificial character on screen. A character that is essentially just made up of computer generated images but is now capable of evoking the same emotions as an actor such as compassion and love.

Unusually, The main discussion around the release of the film from the general public concerned the director rather than any of the cast. One factor maybe that Cameron purposely hired relativity unknown actors with the exception of Sigourney Weaver who plays ‘Dr. Grace Augustine’ in order to keep the budget down as it was already going to be an expensive movie. Costing around $230,000,000 to make, Avatar is one of the most expensive movies ever made but having already generated revenue of over $1 Billion and with screenings still booked far in advance it has proved to be a wise investment.

– Chris Till

Bibliography

http://dailycontributor.com/avatar-became-fifth-movie-to-pass-1-billion-mark/10204/

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2009/12/how-much-did-avatar-really-cost.html

Set in 1950’s post-war Liverpool, Nowhere Boy depicts a young John Lennon and his life before he became the legend we know him as today and the later success he had with The Beatles. Nowhere Boy, a slant on the 1965 Beatles hit song Nowhere Man is a home-grown British made film that exposes Lennon as a typical angst filled teenager growing up in a typical industrial English city, not as the icon that we see him as today.

The plot in this biographical feature focuses on Lennon, played by Aaron Johnson (“Angus, Thong’s and Perfect Snogging”) and his unstable domestic relationships with his mum (Anne-Marie Duff) and his aunt Mimi (Kristen Scott Thomas). Lennon was brought up by his aunt Mimi from the age of five, then as he reaches his teenage years he comes back into contact with his mum again via a friend and attempts to rebuild the lost relationship. This unfortunately doesn’t last long as toward the end of the film, just as all seems to come together in harmony, she is hit by a drunk driver and tragically killed. This leaves the young Lennon feeling even more neglected and alone than ever before, bringing him much closer to his band mates as they are pretty much the only thing in his life that resembles a family.

The film shows Lennon as an angry, cocky young lad. Rather over exaggerated is his bad temper and attitude, casting him as an almost unlikable character, although he does make up for this with his quirky wit and brilliant portrayal of John Lennon.

One thing that really makes this film stand out among other previous attempts at dramatizing the life around ‘the fab four’ is how director Sam Taylor-Wood does not let the shadow and success of ‘The Beatles’ over cloud or taint this feature in anyway. Although, we are provided with some insight into how ‘The Beatles’ came to be. We see the key moments when John is introduced to both a young Paul McCartney (Thomas Sangster) and George Harrison (Sam Bell). From the early schoolboy days of ‘The Quarry Men’ to the final scene with John informing his aunt Mimi that he is leaving for Hamburg with his new band. Not once throughout the entire film is a reference made regarding ‘The Beatles’. This sensitive, tragic story of a troubled young boy from Liverpool remains the main focus throughout.

The film does not seem to provide a concrete conclusion or climax as such but as an audience we already know that there is some kind of happy ending to follow in this saddening story whether or not it is we see this in the film. Nowhere Boy is not recommended for any die hard ‘Beatles’ fan looking to hear the classic hits but for anyone interested in a gripping emotional drama then this film is a must see.

- Chris Till

One significant difference that is common with the most popular music ‘Freemium’ services such as Spotify or GrooveShark is that the user does not download or ever receive the actual file of the music they are playing, instead it is streamed directly from the companies servers. This brings with it both advantages and disadvantages, culturally and for the music industry. Now it is possible to have access to an entire personalized collection of music from any computer in the world connected to the internet as soon as you log in with your username and password, which is a great advantage, especially today where people are concerned for the environment, no longer needing racks and racks of plastic to store your music. One cultural change that has occurred as a result of this business model is that no longer do people actually own their music collection but instead theoretically ‘borrow’ it. This brings with it disadvantages such as not being able to transfer songs onto portable devices or burn backup copies onto a CD. In 2009 Spotify announced they would be offering their services on several smart phones such as the apple iPhone. Since this service became available Spotify has seen an enormous rise in people subscribing to the service and as a result referred back to the old system of invite only for the free service.

It maybe too early to tell at this time but the ‘Freemium’ concept could be a serious option in discouraging file sharing by providing people with what is essentially free music without artists and labels losing revenue. This concept can be likened to that of a radio station where music is streamed or broadcast but instead of the customer being told what song they will listen to next, they instead have a choice and the ability to listen on demand whenever the choose.

-    Chris Till, 11th December 2009

Bibliography

Spotify (2009) [online] Available from <http://www.spotify.com> [accessed 10-12-09]

GrooveShark (2009) [online] Available from <http://listen.grooveshark.com/> [accessed 10-12-09]

For the past twelve years, Mancunian alt/rock band Elbow have tried every approach and direction to get their big break in the music industry and have the privilege of calling themselves an A-list act. Until the release of their latest album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, they were never considered as a major player in the music scene, although they still had some minor chart success with earlier material, reaching number nineteen in the UK single charts with ‘Fallen Angel’, from the album ‘Cast of Thousands’, released in 2003. With the critically acclaimed ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ peaking in the billboard 200 charts at number two and then receiving the prestigious nationwide mercury prize ‘Album of The Year’ award for their efforts, Elbow are finally on their way to becoming one of the most respected bands in the British soft-rock scene today.

With a clear indication of maturity right from the start, ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ shows a vast improvement in song writing ability and a fresh approach from Elbow. The album opens with a dreamy intro from the track ‘Starlings’, slightly reminiscent of a late Pink Floyd album, only to wake up the listener a few bars in with a punchy staccato stab from the brass section. This dynamic contrast continues throughout the song. An opening track that really provides a good foundation for the rest of the album to sit on. Throughout the entire album there appears to be a sustained mood of soft bliss right from the beginning, apart from a few exceptions including both singles, ‘Grounds for Divorce’, a track which really gives the record some variety without sounding too different or out of place and the beautiful orchestral ‘One Day Like This’. A track that starts off with an easy melody performed by a string section only to progresses over the track until the end where it builds up to become an anthemic Glastonbury style sing-a-long.

The Seldom Seen Kid differs from Elbow’s previous work as it is the first record they have self-produced, with keyboardist Craig Porter taking control, clearly showing from the reception of the album that this is a decision they should have made far earlier on in their career. For most artists, producing their own work often doesn’t lead to a good result and can be damaging to a bands reputation, but for Elbow it seems to be the missing ingredient in their formula for success.

The success of Elbow’s latest release combined with their sensible mature attitudes and industrious approach to making music, we can expect more great things in the future to come from the Manchester quintet.

- Chris Till, 27th November 2009

Bibliography

http://www.prideofmanchester.com/music/elbow-discography.htm

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wnftxqqkldse~T20

http://www.musicomh.com/albums/elbow-4_0308.htm

Radiohead were signed to a six album record deal with EMI, which with the release of Hail to The Thief in 2003 they had contractually filled. This left them with the choice of either signing another deal with EMI, with another label or possibly even releasing it themselves on their own label. The choice Radiohead made was fresh, innovative and completely unexpected by the public. On the first of October 2007 a message was posted by guitarist Johnny Greenwood on the official Radiohead blog Dead Air Space that read “Hello everyone, well the new album is finished, and it’s coming out in 10 days; We’ve called it In Rainbows. Love from us all. Johnny.” Johnny Greenwood, 01/10/07. This post also contained a link to an online store where users could purchase the album but in an unconventional way.

The album was available for download only with no physical copy in the stores to support it, at least initially; it has since been released on XL records. Users were given the option to ‘Pay What You Want’ as this model has now become known. This concept allowed people to decide for themselves how much they thought the record was worth. Where the price would normally be displayed on the website, it instead contained an empty text field allowing the user to enter any amount from £0.00 to £99.99.

This way of releasing a record has brought about many discussions of whether or not this is a positive thing for the music industry. It has prompted many questions about the value of music today and whether a record label is needed or even relevant in a time where everybody has access to a worldwide distribution service like the Internet. Since the release of In Rainbows, several other major artists such as Oasis, Kiss and Lily Allen have expressed their distaste with the way it was released, labeling it as “arrogant” and a bad example for newly or less established bands, who would not have the fan base for such a model to work. Liam Gallagher of Oasis also commented on this saying that that he would never give an Oasis album away for free and that this was not a viable business model. The success of In Rainbows suggests otherwise.

- Chris Till, 26th November 2009

Bibliography

Trevor Baker (2009) ‘Thom Yorke, Radiohead & Trading Solo’. Independent Music Press’

Dead Air Space. (2007). In Rainbows. Available from <http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/index.php?a=292> [accessed 08-11-09]

Rolling Stone (14/11/07). Lily Allen, Oasis, Gene Simmons Backlash Against Radiohead’s “Rainbows”. Available from <http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/11/14/lily-allen-oasis-gene-simmons-backlash-against-radioheads-rainbows/> [accessed 08-11-09]