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FTT!:10 fan-tas-tic images of 2009!

Fan-tas-tic — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:14:58 +0000

Simply a selection of 10 of the most fan-tas-tic images from fan-tas-tic.com. The site is still in alpha and there has been only a soft launch, but it working out quit well.
Once in beta the site should be full of images which can only rated as as ‘FTT!’…fan-tas-tic!

Eos Divine Protection

Red Sonja

Flight of the Dragon

Angel and Demons

Dungeons & Dragons: Legendary Boon

Budapest – Fantasy landscape

The God of Hellfire

Fusion

Purple Mage

Black God’s Kiss

Once you’re at fan-tas-tic.com don’t forget the rate the images you think it’s FTT!

Top 10 biggest movie turn-offs of 2008

Tschai — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:16:07 +0000

It’s that time of the year, that every movie lover wants to share his best and worst movies of the year. Little surprises on those lists. My list would not contain much surprises either, I guess. So, instead here are my biggest movie turn-offs of this year.

Actually I did enjoy most of these movies while watching, but at a certain point or after the ending credits some moment/thing did turn me off in a way. So don’t consider this as a ‘Worst Movies of 2008′ list!

1.The Forbidden Kingdom

At last Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in a movie. Should have been a dream coming true, but Hollywood decided to piss the real fans off: Instead of ‘Once upon a time in China’ meets ‘The Drunken Master’ we just got another ‘Neverending Story’! Let me use this stupid sentence just once: Epic Fail!

2.Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Not a particular bad movie, but it could also have been just another Tomb Raider movie. Nothing new. Nothing special. Nothing worth remembering afterwards. Surely a movie which could have used a fresh reboot.

3.10.000 BC

A lot o turn-offs actually and I shouldn’t have expected too much from a movie with a mix of (blue eyed) reggae/rasta cave(wo)man, (ice age) mammoths and Egyptian pyramids. But the fight between a sabre tooth tiger and ‘our’ hero could have saved the movie. Instead the sabre tooth tiger just walks away: Pussy!

4.Cloverfield

Not only using the same viral marketing introduced by The Blair Witch Project. It is also filmed alike: with a shaking (and irritating) ‘handheld’ camera. And for the rest the story kinda seemed to borrow from Godzilla. The twist is that we don’t get a clear look at the alien/monster. All that (online) hustle did raise the expectations a little high, I guess.

5.Speedracer

The bright colours strengthen the feeling it is a kids movie. And that’s what it was, actually. Hoped and expected more from the Wachowski bros.
Hope some of the other anime remakes will turn out better.

6.The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

A darker Narnia was the premise and a darker sequel it was. Although less talking animals, the ´comic relief´ in the shape of a talking (and sword fighting) mouse made it kiddy again. No need for a third instalment.

7.Be kind, rewind

Instead of a funny movie, we got a ‘feel good’ movie. Which kinda was an ode to movie making in general. Nice. But I was prepared to laugh and the parodies of existing movies could and should have been so much funnier. Don´t remember having laughed.

8.Batman: The Dark Knight

I almost don’t dare, but…10 reasons why ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ is the most overrated movie of 2008!

I´m aware that the following releases are from 2007, but I’ve watched them in 2008 and they fit very well in this list.

9.I am Legend

The whole second half of the movie was actually a complete anti climax and a turn-off. Especially the ending. And I´m not even mentioning the cheesy and clumsy CGI zombies!

10.Transformers

Where to begin with this blockbuster? The kiddy autobots? The unrecognizable Decepticons? Well, the MTV crowd liked it and we´ll be seeing more of the same misfits. Soon enough.
But it is an incredible achievement to screw up Megatron so much: It´s litterary (s)crap. Impossible to like this, if you loved the original cartoon.

Best of 2008 for developers: 2008+ tips, tricks, scripts and sources!

Tschai — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:50:07 +0000

The second in series of best posts of 2008 for designers, developers and bloggers. This second post contains a collection of more than 2008 tips, tricks, scripts, examples and tools for developers.
Whether you’re a beginner or pro, you could use some of these posts for a reference someday.

10 reasons why 'Batman: The Dark Knight' is the most overrated movie of 2008!

Tschai — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:31:03 +0000

Batman: The Dark Knight is simply one of the best movies of 2008. However all the (necro) hype surrounding the movie with the pre-release has started all over again. Now with the Oscar nomination ads and an Imax re-release.

Although also on my best of 2008 list, I think the movie is hugely overrated. And this new round of hype reminded me of 10 reasons why:

1.Necro-hype

Let’s just face it: after the death of Ledger the hype has taken some extreme proportions. Although the studio did not start it, they did not try to stop it either.

2.Viral marketing

The tragic death of Heath didn´t stop the tsunami of virals for promoting the movie and teasing the fans. Possibly one of most heavly promoted movies of all time.

3.Fanboys

Every solid IP needs a loyal fan base to build on and to spread the word and adore the franchise. The Batman ´fanboys´ may have out ´hallelujah-ed´ the Lord of the Ring, Star Wars and Harry Potter fanboys.

4.Low voice of Batman

With every sequel Christian Bale´s voice is getting lower once he pulls on the dark suite. He´s not getting scarier. Just less serious.

5.Action movie, not a superhero movie anymore

Maybe it´s a good thing actually, but after the reboot Batman is no more a classic comic movie. It´s just a harsh and dark good-guy vs bad-gut action movie.
The violence gets realistic and the villains are real world criminals.

6.Joker was good, not great

Heath Ledger as Joker was really good and up to par with Jack Nicholson´s version. But Oscar worthy? The best supporting actor? Wonder whether people would have thought the same if the movie wasn´t hyped this much or if Ledger was still alive.

7.Overcasting

The cast of the movie is just grand. But most of these big names have a small role. Morgan Freeman? Micheal Cain? Gary Oldman? A waste of talent, considering their roles.

8.Close-up & chaotic actions

The same trick used in Batman Begins to reveal that Liam Neeson can´t fight is used here constantly: the action is filmed almost at a close-up range, which makes the action hard to follow.

9.Too dark to see

Ok. The movie uses dark colours the underline the dark tone of the movie. But most of the time the settings and scenes outside are too dark to distinguish stuff. And this combined with the close-up action shots was just too chaotic and too dark.

10.When two ferries ‘collide’

Like the bridge and metro scene in the Spider-Man movies the final scene were passengers of two ferries are about to blow the other ferry is just…too…unrealistic at least. Even for a comic book. But especially for a such dark and serious movie version.

Hey, I still loved the movie. But I fear the hype for the 3th instalment will be even bigger. And the bigger the hype, the bigger the expectation and the bigger the disappointment. So, maybe I just have to try to avoid all the coming hype than.

Best of 2008 for designers: 2008+ tips, tricks, resources and inspirations!

Tschai — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:40:00 +0000

A compilation post with the best posts of 2008 was inevitable. Below you’ll find more than 2008 tips, tricks, icons, tutorials, inspirations and more design stuff. For beginners and advanced designers. Also make sure you check out the other posts on these great blogs.

So for your and my own reference here are the best posts for designers this year I’ve came across and which are worth (re)reading.

Tutorials (562)

30+ Exceptional GIMP Tutorials and Resources
25 Ways to Spice Up Blog Post Photos
50 Great Photoshop Tutorials for Clever Beginners
31 Practical (Web) Interface Design Tutorials

22 + 50+ Great Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials, Part II
41 + 30+ Nicest Photoshop Photo Tutorials, Part II
40 Cool Abstract and Background Photoshop Tutorials
100+ best sites to find tutorials!
80 of the Best Vector and Illustrator Free Resources

Icons (150)

110+ Free RSS Icons To Show Off Your RSS Feed
40+ Hand-picked Photoshop Icon Designs [Photoshop Tutorials]

Inspiration (638)

32 Invaluable Sites for Web Design Inspiration
40+ Beautiful Hand-Drawn Websites
Typographic Madness: 30 Brilliant Piece of Work
40 Creative + 50 Excellent + 100 funny and unusual + 36 cool + 49 Nice And Creative Error 404 Pages
33 New Design Blogs with Great Content & Resources
37 Ways to Design the Comments Form
30 Must See + 30 More Must See Comment Designs for Blog Designers
31 Creative Examples Of Mascots To Grab Your Attention
70 beautiful websites with a large background
30 creative custom wordpress logins

Resources (720)

20 Creative and Inspiring Free Design Magazines
20 Free & Open Source Image Galleries for Web Designers
30 Free Stock Photo Sites: Ultimate Collection
208 Retro Photoshop Patterns
52 Vector Landscapes, 53 Vector Characters
27 + 36 + 36 Beautiful Business Card designs
25+ Sites that Use Typography As The Only Design Element
Promote Your Blog Posts: 12 Nice Designs and Techniques
Top 25 Web Design Blogs
100 Nice and Beautiful Blog Design
40 most beautiful and inspirational website designs of 2008
11 Sites To Create Cartoon Characters of Yourself
25 Website Designs To Draw Inspiration From

Missing any great posts that should be added to this list? Leave a link with your comment and complete the list!

10 reasons why 'Top List' posts are great to read and write

Tschai — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:35:51 +0000

There are a lot of opinions whether ‘top list’ post are good or evil and even a top list with tips how to write good ‘top lists’ and other posts are claiming that this trend is dying.

Whatever the case, I love to write and read in this style. And here are my reasons why.

1.Easy to write

If you have already the list completed in your head, you can finish the whole post rather quickly. And if necessary ‘pimp’ it up with images and links afterwards.
Examples:

This post

2.Fast to read

I visit and stumble upon a lot of different blogs. Or read via my reader. I found out that I only ‘really’ read the fast paced posts. Most of the time these are ‘top list’ post. And I hop on to the other blogs or posts: Too much to read, too little time!
Examples:

3.Twisted

When you’re about to run out of imagination or you find out that the list you were preparing already has been posted on another blog, why not use a twisted version of your original list!
Examples:

4.Catchy

These list tend to be more catchy than regular headlines anyway, but you can easily exaggerate and use superlatives to make it even more catchy. Or even intriguing. Although the actual content of the post may very well be very disappointing after all.
Examples:

5.Provoking

Some stuff is simply ‘holy’ to some people or communities. Sometimes a controversial look on a subject can be very provoking, but could also lead to a great posts or a lot of comments.
Examples:

6.Commentable

Unlike some regular post these ‘top list’ post are very inviting to leave a comment; you can (dis)agree with some point of the list, suggest more additions or even thank the author for adding your site/post to the list!
Examples:

7.Extendable

A simple and ‘cheap’ Hollywood trick: Why not continue with more of the same, when a post was a success? Why not write sequel? Prequel? Or a even a reboot?
Example:

8.Relatable

If you can make op a ‘top list’ about one subject, nothing stops you doing that for another related subject. And another. And yet another.
Examples:

Textpattern Developer’s Toolbox

WordPress Developer’s Toolbox

Drupal Developer’s Toolbox

ExpressionEngine Developer’s Toolbox

9.Gimmickable

The best thing maybe just that these lists don’t have to be serious at all. You can make the whole list or points on the list as gimmicky and funny as desired. Who’s stopping you from being funny, sarcastic or a plain idiot? No one!
Examples:

10.Imaginable

In fact the only restriction to these list is your imagination: You can think of as many list as you wish and even as many tips within these lists as you can think of. You could even make these ‘top list’ post the whole concept of your blog.
Examples:

PS: Follow up post coming soon: 10 reasons why ‘Top List posts’ suck to read and write

UPDATE: A great post related to this topic can be found at Skelliewag: How Not to Sell-Out