Will Ferrell’s vanity basketball team find circuit training a little too much to handle in Semi-Pro.

The following is a guest post from R. Colin Tait, RTF Ph.D. student and my personal informant on all things Canadian, including Rachel McAdams, hockey, universal healthcare, and not paying for grad school.

Will Ferrell's Nostalgic Masculinity in Semi-Pro

Brennan: You know what?  I still hate you, but you have a pretty awesome collection of nudie mags.

Dale: Yeah, I got ‘em from the seventies, eighties and nineties. It’s like masturbating in a time machine.

-          Brennan (Will Ferrell) to Dale (John C. Reilly) in Step Brothers

First off, I want to thank Annie for letting me do some cyber-squatting on her otherwise excellent blog, and second, let me state at the outset that these thoughts are part of a larger work-in-progress, tentatively titled “Absurd Masculinity: The Time-Bending Comic Persona of Will Ferrell.” So thanks to all of you in advance for entertaining some of these half-formed (or perhaps malformed) thoughts.

This project is motivated by my larger interest in film nostalgia, particularly for the 1970s and as replayed in contemporary film culture. My central question begins and ends with Anchorman as well as a whole wealth of comedies, all of which highlight the absurdities of excessive masculinity across different time periods. I am interested in comedies set in the recent past – including Superbad (which seems to be set in the eighties), The Wedding Singer, in addition to The Royal Tennenbaums — a comedy(?) set simultaneously in a strange in-between place that is the seventies and the present.

Will Ferrell’s portrayal of Ron Burgundy is the chief illustration of this trend. We can add a series of films where the male protagonists depict man-children of a certain age (around the 40-Year Old Virgin mark) who haven’t “grown up” or are stuck in some sort of state of adolescent sexuality or man-child-ness. These films not only include the recent “Bromances” (I Love You Man, Role Models) but also the residents of “Old School” and certainly almost every one of Adam Sandler’s films, whose characters live in either a literal or figurative past.

70s Masculine Icon Ron Burgundy

Will Ferrell is the latest and most successful within this larger phenomenon, not only because of his appealing comic persona, but in the way that he seemingly destabilizes traditional notions of history, sexuality, and politics through his excessively absurd portrayals of childhood, adolescence, in addition to retaining a core stable of comic traits. I will argue that part of Ferrell’s appeal (and ultimately why he is so funny) is his willingness to pierce traditional notions of male power, to put his naked body in the service of destabilizing concepts such as attractiveness, and ultimately his association with eras that he has obviously lived through, representing the full range of childish or adolescent sexuality from the perspective of absurd critique. This work involves looking at the core of Ferrell’s comic traits including key scenes, as well as linking Ferrell’s success to a nostalgic depiction of both the way things were, but also the way that they never were. In this sense, I propose that Ferrell’s persona is “time-bending;” my allusion to the idea of gender bending but through his revisitation in particular eras. The reward of watching his films is built upon the fact that his comedy depends on our built-in foreknowledge that Ferrell is presenting us with the absurdities and excesses rather than the defenses of the eras he’s referring to.

The not-so-successful remake of "Bewitched"

In terms of contemporary film stardom, Ferrell is a consistent draw at the box-office, with some very big exceptions such as big studio films like Bewitched and most recently Land of the Lost. For the most part, his films from Anchorman onward (and his collaborations with Adam McKay) are consistently profitable and generally over-perform at the box-office. Additionally, as retrospectives of the first decade of the new millennium begin to show their faces, we can see that the 2000s were marked, in part, by the rise and peak within Ferrell’s career as he moves from the sidelines as a memorable bit player (some might say the most memorable player in certain films such as Old School and Zoolander) and emerges as a genuine box-office comedy star. As recently as this last week New York Times critic A. O. Scott listed the best of the last decade he almost mentioned Ferrell as a significant afterthought.

While sometimes associated with the larger movement somewhat problematically called the “Frat Pack” which is even more commonly associated with writer/producer Judd Apatow – whose “laugh factory” includes what could be effectively called a reparatory company of actors and writers such as Vince Vaughan, Ben Stiller, Jason Segel, Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd among many others – Ferrell brings his own brand of comic sensibility to the discussion, which may begin with Apatow, McKay and others, but remains consistently and uniquely linked to the actor’s comic persona.

Will Ferrell’s comic persona is unique insofar as it possesses the following “time-bending” features, “man as child,” “man as adolescent,” “man as reactionary” and “man out of time.” The best of Ferrell’s characters generally overlap these categories. First, Ferrell is associated with a “man as child” childish grown-up, prone to temper tantrums (and yelling) and wearing clothes that are far too tight.

(Quintessential Ferrell vehicle Elf)

This first category accounts for the actor’s first hits, particularly as he moves from a sideline and TV player to a bona fide box-office draw and carries through (somewhat more perversely) to Step Brothers.

The second category, “man as adolescent” is best embodied by “Frank the Tank” in Old School in addition to his depiction of President George W. Bush on Saturday Night Live and You’re Welcome America: An Evening With George W. Bush.

(Frank the Tank while still married)

The third category, “man as reactionary,” presents a man who is simultaneously in and out of his time, best embodied by North Carolina race car driver Ricky Bobby. In the case of Bobby, the childhood trauma of his father’s abandonment forces him to question his excessive materialist (and perhaps American) values at the end of the film.

(Ricky Bobby espouses the family values of a white baby Jesus and capitalism, brought to you by Pizza Hut and Taco Bell)

The most interesting of these categories for me (and ultimately what draws me to Ferrell as a performer) is “man out of time.” The atemporality of Ferrell’s portrayal usually infuses his characters with a self-reflexive commentary on the era his characters are set in. The fact that Ron Burgundy plays the jazz flute, an anachronism in our era to say the least, is part of this humor, as is the claim by designer Mugatu (in Zoolander) that his claim to fame was inventing the piano-key necktie.

(Ron Burgundy plays the jazz flute)

The reflexive presence of hyper-masculine Ron Burgundy, Ferrell’s portrayal as one half of the Woodward and Bernstein team (in Dick), the association of designer Mugatu as a former member of 80s group Frankie Goes to Hollywood, are examples of how this phenomenon plays out.

Ferrell’s best characters are borne of this temporal gray area. They are literally man-children born in the 1970s – sometimes literally like Brennan of Step-Brothers or Buddy from Elf, or are associated in some way with a previous decade – Ron Burgundy, the 70s anchorman, 70s Detroit basketball team owner Jackie Moon, or the cowbell player from the famous “more cowbell” sketch.

(My apologies, but this is the best version of this available on youtube)

Importantly, all of these characters are men seemingly “out of time,” males whose extreme whiteness and overdetermined masculinity are made absurd through the process of the film or (sketch’s) narrative. It is as if because Ferrell is of a particular age (moving onto forty, if not right in his forties) he best embodies this “arrested development” inherent in contemporary masculinity, which he both explodes the expectations of, while simultaneously reconstituting a new formulation of it.

History

I would like to suggest that Will Ferrell’s emergence as a star as dependent on two factors. First, Ferrell’s developed a distinctive comic personality over the course of the 1990s on Saturday Night Live during his tenure from 1995-2006. Second, I imagine that Ferrell’s depiction of a hysterical rendition of excessive masculinity corresponds with the nostalgic paradoxes of the post-9/11 era. Importantly, this “excessive masculinity” is really funny.

This initial period is formative for Ferrell and for his audiences, in part because of his collaboration with then-SNL writer Adam McKay. The duo would go on to form an effective partnership which accounts for Ferrell’s greatest successes, including his three biggest films, Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. We can also see Saturday Night Live as an effective producer of pop-cultural personalities, references and star personas. In this way, it nearly resembles an earlier version of stardom in the Vaudeville era, where performers enter a market with fully-rendered star persona traits. To be certain, some performers fare better than others, but Saturday Night Live has more often than not been successful precisely because it so effectively creates and cultivates stars on its show. Although billed as an ensemble program, gradually it elevates certain performers over others, grooming them eventually for film stardom as others in the cast recede or become supporting actors in this system.

We can see Ferrell’s rise as following performers such as Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Eddie Murphy and John Belushi, each of whom effectively constructed comedic star personas that expanded outward after years of apprenticeship in this staging ground. At the same time, we can see that the range of these actors and their roles remains consistent throughout their subsequent careers, so that the kinds of films that Myers, Sandler and others follow a limited set of traits and which usually exploit the personality traits honed on the  Show.

For Ferrell, these traits included what are now staples within his film repertoire. They include the aforementioned temper tantrums, (as seen in one of his earliest sketches featured Ferrell as a father at Thanksgiving dinner who repeatedly threw over the kitchen table, declaring a censored “Fuck this, I’m leaving!”) in addition to imitating antiquated pop-cultural figures, including Neil Diamond, Robert Goulet and Alex Trebek (who is nearly atemporal as he exists in reruns and syndication) and the “more cowbell” guy.

Robert Goulet “Raps”

In each case, Ferrell can be expected to throw some sort of temper tantrum, sing, or embody an outdated mode of male-ness, that has long since gone out of style. Ferrell’s physicality – and often enough what has been described as his “doughy nudity” – achieves comedic precisely because of its inappropriateness and its deviation from the norm. As with all Saturday Night Live comedians, Ferrell also became famous by imitating George W. Bush throughout his presidency.

This depiction of Bush as a petulant frat-boy is also interesting as a historical phenomenon. It is worth pursuing how these comedy traits carry over into different aspects of pop-culture, particularly as Ferrell crosses media into the talk show circuit (sometimes taking entire characters with him) and further expanding his comic presence across media industries.

(A fictional character pitching a real product)

(“Robert Goulet” appears on Conan O’Brien)

In this vein, Ferrell can be seen as embodying an older style of comic personality, such as Groucho Marx’s hosting game shows, and his later appearances on shows such as Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett.

History and Masculinity in Crisis?

Moving on to the specifics of Ferrell’s contingent history, I would like to follow some comments such as those made by K.W. Kusz who in his essay “Remasculinizing American White Guys in/Through New Millennium American Sport Films,” suggests that the ascent of comics such as Ferrell, Vince Vaughan and Judd Apatow’s are historically-contingent on the post-9/11 era and are reacting to a particular crisis of American masculinity under threat during the “War on Terror.”

While I find some of these ideas convincing – particularly Peter Alilunas’ excellent study across Vince Vaughan’s career, which certainly intersects with Ferrell’s – I find some of the valances of these arguments slightly problematic. This is especially true of the critical engagement with Talladega Nights, a film that Heather Laine Talley and Monica J. Casper state that they “are deeply concerned” with the possibility that the film presents another opportunity to “laugh at ‘gay men’” “Southerners,” or “the working class without “being critical of the assumptions that this humor depends on” (Laine and Casper 2007). Part of the problem with these analyses is that they take the films (and their various plot points) entirely seriously (which may be something that I am admittedly guilty of here) whereas Ferrell’s comedy leaves room for a certain amount of “play” and perhaps even some critique to take place. Added to this I would argue that what makes Ferrell’s persona so likable is he manages to take standard representations of gender, of maturity, of sexuality, and presents their absurdity for comedic effect.

The actor’s various outbursts during crisis points serve as part of this effect (such as Mugatu’s screaming of “I invented the piano-key neck-tie!” during the climax of the film) or as Ricky Bobby strips down to his underwear to run around the racetrack in Talladega Nights when he imagines himself to be on fire.

(Mugatu faces off against “Blue Steel”)

(Ricky Bobby is on “fire”)

In both cases, it is the inappropriateness the outbursts that provide the humor within these scenes in addition to Ferrell’s obvious and near-nudity.

Ferrell’s physical comedy is also important here, as one of the trademarks of this public persona is presented by the absurdity of his ubiquitous nudity. The most famous example of this is in Old School where Frank the Tank’s “Let’s go streaking!” provides one of the film’s most humorous moments. In addition, his climactic “ribbon dance” may have marked a turning point in the actor’s career. We can also expect Ferrell to break into an overly sentimental song from the 70s, 80s or 90s, as he does in this scene from Old School, but also in almost every other one of his films.

Frank the Tank’s “Ribbon Dance”

(Frank sings “Dust in the Wind” – a rendition that is as comedic as it is earnest)

In both examples, Ferrell seemingly explodes both the expectations of male camaraderie and love in addition to a bravura display of sentimentality and an implosion of gender expectations.

Finally, this expansion of boundaries can be seen in the penultimate scene in Talladega Nights as the actor’s climactic run to the finish line in order to beat gay French racecar rival Jean Girard.

(“You taste of America”)

What is interesting to me about this clip is the way that it combines and problematizes the notions of masculinity (and politics) as it simultaneously presents an ideological message (complete with a waving American flag in the background) in addition to a long man-on-man kiss at the end of the scene. Once again, the inclusion of all things, a Pat Benetar song is important, as it aids in evoking the simultaneity of the past and present, and its ongoing association with Ferrell’s comic personality.

Gender Politics and Sensitive Expressivity

I would like to end on this note, as I believe that Ferrell’s films and his comic stardom raises some interesting questions within a larger discourse of contemporary masculinity. The first of these ideas relates to the setting of many of these films, presenting absurdly anachronistic versions of “normative” masculine behavior and how in almost every case, Ferrell’s humor derives entirely on deflating and expanding these gender norms. Relating back to my earlier discussion of Ferrell’s “time-bending” qualities, Ferrell infuses past and present depictions of masculinity with either a childish or adolescent sensibility, in addition to his willingness to go over the top by way of a sickly-sweet sensitivity. Added to this is the notion that somehow Ferrell embodies “the way things” were in a hyper-stylized manner that ultimately opens the past up for ridicule.

Buddy the Elf is clearly the best (and perhaps most successful) example of this fusion of the man-child within a contemporary cynical sphere (New York City no less), but there are clearly numerous other examples. As the actor continues to be associated with specific periods and characters who live in the past, Ferrell’s inappropriate comic appropriation of these eras ultimately reward us with the big laughs that we get from watching one of his films.

Finally, Ferrell’s portrayal and association with George W. Bush, throughout and after his presidency may provide us with an interesting window through which we can view the political effect of Ferrell’s comedy. As opposed to critics like Kusz, who is prepared to take Ferrell’s films at face value as part of a larger movement of reactionary gender politics, perhaps we can see the comic’s portrayal of Bush as largely countering these claims.

In (one of) his most recent releases, Ferrell portrays the ex-President as a petulant and bratty Frat-boy, undercutting his potency as a hyper-masculine figure and great leader.

(“How come you’re the only one in our family that speaks with a Texas accent?”)

What is especially interesting to me about this scene is how the line between the portrayal of George Bush and Will Ferrell is so fine, and how this particular story allows Ferrell to use the full range of his comic persona, submerged within a larger historical figure. At the heart of things, it would seem to me that this presents an absurd critique of the excessive masculine patriotism that emerged during this specific time.

Maybe we’ll have to wait until Anchorman 2 to see how all of this plays out, but for now, I hope that I have outlined some of the larger points about Ferrell’s comic personality and made a case for his “time-bending” comic persona.

If not, I had lots of fun stringing a bunch of great clips together which is just as important to me. Thanks to all for reading.

Works Cited (or parenthetically referred to )

Alilunas, Peter, Nothing I Ever Do Is Good Enough: Masculinities in the Films of Vince Vaughan. MA Thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, 2008.

—. “Male Masculinity as the Celebration of Failure: The Frat Pack, Women, and the Trauma of Victimization in the ‘Dude Flick.’” Mediascape, UCLA (Spring, 2008).

Kusz, Kyle W., “Remasculinizing American White Guys in/Through New Millennium American Sport Films,” Sport in Society,2008, 11:2,209-226.

Talley, Heather Laine and Casper, Monica J., “A Response to the Motion Picture Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” in Journal of Sport and Social Issues 2007; 31; 434

Years ago when arena football was popular, Montgomery Inn sponsored a team in Cincinnati. They held open auditions and I planned to try out, not that I had the slightest chance but I wanted to say that I tried out for a professional (or, more accurately, semi-pro) team.

I overslept the day of auditions and never got the chance, but if I had made it, I couldn’t have been as bad as this guy.

I tend to think semi-pro football is for people that are just trying to hold up their hopes and dreams while working at a convenient store and would love for someone to find a player that has actually made it to the big show from there.

This furthers my case.

Mauriece McIver makes a great tackle on the punt return, stopping the Las Vegas Cobra player from finding his way into the end zone. The only problem? McIver plays for the Cobra’s. Yeah, you may want to rethink your life goals.

What makes this video so much better is the Cobra’s website. It’s fantastically bad and deserves a Webby for the worst website ever. Or the best. Depends on who you’re asking. The best part has to be the teams theme song in MIDI form on their website: I love it when you call me big papa by B.I.G.

Hey, maybe I do love semi-pro football but probably just because it’s hilariously bad.

[via Deadspin]

Being a semi-professional darts instructor to the STARS ain’t always easy. Hell no. Just yesterday I was around at Sean Paul’s place trying to help him brush up with his double play, which is frankly poor. ’Sean’, I said,” stop all this jigging and jiving at the oche, stand still and present the dart, your not a jamaican booty hunter right now, your a God damned darts player”

“Sorry Gino man”, he said, “I know me posture ain’t all it should be man, I got meself right wasted last night man, you should have seen the pussy I had a-jiving all over this here Rasta”. 

“Now listen here you Jamaican bastard”, the rising anger causing my body to tremble, ”I don’t give two tiny shits about your jiving pussy. What does the S P after my name mean SEAN?”

“I dunno coach… small penis”

“Small penis, you’ll feel my small penis right up your Jamaican rump you indignant fuck.  It stands for semi-professional Sean, semi God damned professional. Now clear your mind of my dick and present that fuckin dart”.

“Gino man you seriously need to lighten up a bit brother”.

“Lighten up, LIGHTEN UP, I’ll give you fuckin lighten up you stoner piece of shit, I’m here to teach you darts. Now do you want LIL WAYNE to carry on fuckin you at darts, cos he’s been fuckin you good Sean, real good, or do you want to grow a fuckin set of balls and hit your God damned double”.

“Ah shit man i’m sorry Gino Man, yeh man I want to beat LIL WAYNE, that little brother been fucking me good for a long time now”.

“Yes Sean, yes he has”.   

Join me for the next episode of Ginomerlino – darts supremo… to the STARS, at a later date. Rumour has it Jessica Simpson needs some assistance with her counting… God damned whore!

I caught the 2nd half of ‘A History of Violence’ last night. I remember seeing it at the pictures and thinking it possibly the worst film ever made. My opinion hasn’t changed. How Mark Kermode (who is a hero of mine!) can rate it I’ll never know.

There are indeed some very strange channels on this cable setup. One called 21 Junior just has weird and awful Eastern European songs sung and danced to by little brat kids 24/7. It’s very bizarre and a bit disturbing. Oh for Sky Sports News.

This morning I had a mini-adventure to find an ATM so I could pay for another night in this guesthouse. Apparently the nearest one is just 10 minutes up the hill. Well it’s right back down the other side again and the road splits numerous times without a clear obvious route to take, I got there in the end though and at least I now have an idea of the route to town. I’m hoping there will be some sort of travel agents there to get my next bus ticket rather than having to go on a right mission to the central (or not so central) bus station.

To make up for rising accommodation and transport costs I picked up some supplies while I was out. For €4.40 I got 2 croissants, a carton of apple juice, pasta, pasta sauce, some meat for the pasta and pepper. That’s my next 4 meals taken care of, not bad eh.

I got back to the hostel and paid ‘The Professor’ the dosh for the room no probs. The Professor is what the fella who runs the place calls himself, he’s a bit of an old character and delighted in telling me that he studied in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne between 1971-1975.

‘Solaris’ has just come on telly now and I should really be getting out and hunting for a bus ticket but I’ve never seen it and it’s only 90 minutes so it has to be done, i don’t half miss my films. Mini review of sorts here as always.

I see on the news that Bazza O has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ridiculous if you ask me, what has he actually achieved yet? I hope he goes onto do something that warrants such an award but all he has done so far is talk (very well I might add), all politicians can do that.

In the end I did have to go to the main station to get my ticket. I walked into town and had a look about but couldn’t find any travel agents that would sell tickets. So then I got a taxi to the station at a pre-arranged (I always do this as so many of the taxi drivers in these parts try it on) price of 3 Euros and tried to pay attention to the route so I could walk it back (which worked a bit, kind of, well I had to go back on myself a couple of times but it was dark by this time so that didn’t help!). I got the ticket and it was 16 Euros leaving tomorrow at 17:45 and taking about 7 hours.

So as I’m not going to be getting the bus to Montenegro in the morning at I thought (there is one but it’s at 7 so I’d have to be up at 5ish and I’ve not had much sleep lately as it is) I’ll have most of the day to have another look round Pristina. I’ve not been very impressed so far but granted I’ve not explored that much yet. What has been doing my head in is the roads here, cars are always parked on the pavements so you have to walk in the road a lot constantly avoiding traffic and often having to crisscross. Red lights and green men don’t seem to mean much in these parts either. The ying to that yang is I’m liking using the € again.

The fact that I’m here all day tomorrow also meant I could eat out this eve and use my remaining supplies for lunch before I leave the guesthouse. I found a cheap little place called Pizziera Rona. 3.50 for a decent pizza and a bottle of the local pilsner, Peja (very nice).

I’ve listened to another couple of albums today offline with Spotify (will ya shut up already about that!). ‘200 Million Thousand’ by Black Lips was first up. It’s very much in the same garage-rock vein as their previous outing, ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ and it’s reasonable enough but the killer tunes that it’s predecessor had just aren’t there this time round, so ultimately it’s a disappointment for me. The other album was ‘Dropping the Writ’ by Cass McCombs. It’s appealing to me more with every listen so far, reminding me of Elliott Smith in a lot of ways. Goodie gumdrops is the initial verdict.

Another film was also somehow squeezed in earlier, ‘Semi-Pro’ with Will Ferrell. My thoughts are in the same place as my ‘Solaris’ ones. I will say that Will Ferrell could make me laugh reading the dictionary though, genius that fella.

I’m currently sat trying to sort a hotel for Podgorica for when I arrive at about 1 in the morning tomorrow night (that’s a paradox right there that is), is a ball ache and taking ages (to do it cheaply anyway). I’ve just booked 2 nights at a nice looking hostel for Kotor afterwards though. It’s not very far from Podgorica so it should be pretty easy to get to, that’s what I’m hoping anyway.

Today’s best search ‘buy a jar of gypsy tears’. Maybe I should start floggin’ them on here?

Don’t sleep on Freddy Krueger in 2010.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is being remade by director Samuel Bayer, with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, the guy from Bad News Bears and Watchmen.  If you don’t know who THAT is, just flashback to Semi-Pro.  He was Duke, the stoner/hippie who made the $10,000 basketball shot! Look for one of the scariest villains of my generation to be back in theaters next year.  Check out the trailer.  1, 2, Freddy’s coming for you!

via Complex

Semi-pro photographers rejoice! Canon’s EOS 7D is very official, and looks very tasty indeed. With dual DIGIC processors for 8fps shooting, an 18MP sensor, full 1080p video capabilities, all-new 19-point focus system, built-in electronic level (for perfectly framed shots) and 3in LCD screen, its got so many more functions that we’ve lost count. We did hold onto the price though, and when it hits the region (sometime early November) it’ll cost around the US$1,700 mark.

Canon 7D

Canon yakın zamanda rakibi Nikon‘un çıkartacağı D300s modelini devirmek için -ki devirdi çoktan- 7D modelini gelecek ay sonu piyasaya sunacak.7D, 5D‘nin hafif kırpılmış modeli olarak görülsede, video özelliğinin geliştirilmesi ile birazcık daha ilgi çekebilir durumda.Bu modeli konumlandırmak gerekirse 5D‘den kötü 50D‘den iyi olarak sınıflandırabiliriz.Dikkat çeken ilk özellik video özelliği geliştirilmiş, çift görüntü işlemcisi DIGIC IV sanırım videolarda sorun ortadan kalkacak, Çift işlemcinin bir başka getiri ise 8FPS fotoğraf çekimi ile 94  JPEG arkaarkaya çekebilmek (124 tane UDMA kart ile) veya 15 tane RAW fotoğraf..Başka güzel bir haber ise 24p, 25p ve 30p seçme olanağımızın olması olacak.720p çekerken bu oran 50 ve 60p olarak değişecek.Fiyat olarak yurtdışında 1900$ olarak şekilenen 7D, 2500$ ‘lık 5D ile bu fiyatla kafaları karıştırabilir.

Fotoğraf özelliklerine bakarsak 18 MP APS-C sensörü ki, kırpılmış sensör olduğu anlaşılıyor.. üzüldük. Sensörün krop boyutu şuan kesin değil.1.6x‘lik bir değer olursa 5D‘den geri kalan bütün skala (40D, 400D, 500D, 50D, 450D) ile aynı olacak makine pek ilgi görmeyeceğini söyleyebilirim.Bazı yerlerde ise 1.45x‘lik krop oranı olduğu söyleniyor.Bence bu bile yeterli değil, full-sensör 5D ile aralarında 600$ lık bir fark var sadece.Iso oranı 100-6400 arasında seçebiliyoruz istersek 12800 olarak aşırtmalı da çekebiliyoruz.Canon yüksek İso değerlerinde daha az kirlilik vermekle ünlenen makineler yapmakla tanınıyor zaten.

Canon, makine ile yeni lensler de piyasaya sunacak bunlardan bir tanesi EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, sanıyorum 17-85mm‘in yavaş odaklaması, optik kalitesi kullanıcıyı pek memnun etmedi.Bir diğer lens 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM makro lens olacak, bu lenslerle ilgili fazla detay yok.Sadece IS biraz daha geliştirilerek Hybrid IS denilen yeni bir görüntü sabitleme sistemine geçmişler.Makro çekimlerde daha az sallantısız görüntü elde edilebileceğini söylüyorlar.

Ayrıca, 19 netlik alanı olan makineye eklenen Start/Stop tuşu Raw ve jpeg fotoğraf çekme seçeneği arasında seçim yapmamıza da yarıyor.Video çekiminde kayıt türü olarak H.264 kodeki kullanılacak, kaliteli sıkıştırma yapan bir format, yeni videolar çıktıkça performansını göreceğiz.

Fotoğraflara tıklayarak büyük hallerini görebilirsiniz.

Gelecek ay satışa çıkacak olan 7D 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens ile 1900$, body olarak ise 1700$.Kit almak çok daha mantıklı duruyor tabi ki.

polaroid kuşağına ışınla bizi scotty!

El viernes saliendo de la universidad me fui directo a ver a mi polola que estaba enfermita, y como se sentía mal hicimos una maratón de películas que obvio nunca fue maratón si no mas bien un fin de semana acostados viendo películas y con siestas re ponedora, la primera película que vimos fue Semi Pro. Will Ferrell puede hacer de cualquier tema una película increíble, hace unos días atrás vi por segunda vez Stranger Than Fiction y me acorde que en verdad Ferrell es mas legenda que Ron Burgundy. Semi Pro Cuenta con la actuación de  Woody Harrelson (Indecent Proposal) y de Andre 3000 (Outkast), si te gusta las peleas de osos, el baile, el basketball, las peleas y el humor sin sentido arriéndala, cómprala, bájala no se pero es chistosa tirao para buena.

La segunda que vimos fue Bride Wars. Ok, partamos por la base de que soy mundialmente reconocido por ver películas de mierda y que me gusten las películas comerciales y tontas que todos odian, pero esta película ya había empezado a verla hace un tiempo atrás y como que no enganche, trabaja Kate Hudson (You, Me and Dupree) y Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) como protagonistas, la historia no se es rara. Si la vez onda después de almuerzo para quedarte dormido así la siesta onda esta es la película indicada.

El domingo vimos una película en el depa. de  Papá mi hermano llego diciendo que era algo así como “Ciudad De Dios” pero versión Africana. Johnny Mad Dog, buena la cago escenas según lo que mi Tío Manuel me contó que lo que muestra la película no se separa en nada de la realidad, brava la película.

El domingo me acosté y me puse a ver un programa de 13 Cable, sobre música salio el Tío Valentín, puta yo de que era chico me acuerdo de el por el Profesor Rosa, y lo encontraba medio ridículo y no se como medio aweonao. Pero ayer no se me vino una melancolía al escuchar su música y en especial un tema “Y tenia un lunar” no se por que me acorde de mi tata silbando ese tema y yo chico. Y bueno lo que escuche era Ángel Parra Trío mas Valentín Trujillo y Panchito Cabrera. No se que decir con respecto a el Tío Valentín (es difícil tratarlo de Valentín Trujillo siendo que toda la vida a estado en mi mente como Tío) mas que es un capo, siempre le hago alabanza a gente del extranjero pero la música que hace me acuerda tanto de los momento bakanes que viví con mis tatas que no se, a lo mejor estoy propenso.
AGUANTE TIO VALENTIN AGUANTE TODA LA VIDA.-

Well, it’s Monday and it was back to the reality of work today.  Heather didn’t have to work today, but I did!  I got up this morning around nine o’clock or so and went downstairs and watched “Dr. Phil” while I caught up my blog.  I am happy to say that I’m back on track with the blog and am caught back up with the current dates.  I don’t think everyone realizes how hard that is when dealing with everything that I do in my life.  Anyway, I got done watching “Dr. Phil” and then went upstairs and took a shower and watched two episodes of Frasier while I got ready for work.  Then I watched the next episode of “Star Trek:  The Next Generation” while I ate some breakfast/lunch before heading off to work.

I headed to Wendy’s and when I got to work, I talked to the manager about the shift I was scheduled for tomorrow.  He agreed to take care of it since the mistake was not my fault.  I was glad to hear that I didn’t have to worry about trying to take care of the shift.  I then signed in and started my shift.  I was on grill today and it was HOT on that grill!  It was hot and humid and I have to say that it was an interesting day.  There never really was a lull in my shift, so it made the shift go by quickly.  Heather left the same time I did.  She tried to get over to the DMV to take her CDL test to start driving bus for the school district.  Problem is, they stop giving the CDL tests at 12:30 and she showed up at 12:31.  No joke!  So, she left and came to Wendy’s to tell me her ridiculous story.  I worked the rest of my shift and time seemed to fly by while I was having fun.  I got done and talked to the manager one last time before I left.  I even told him my last date for my last day for the summer.

I got done and came home and when I pulled in the driveway, the kids pulled up and tried to vacuum out and clean my car.  The problem is that it started to rain just as they tried to start.  All well, we’ll have to take care of that later.  We then went in the house and Heather briefed me on her day.  We sent out a quick email about the Binghamton FanForce event tomorrow afternoon and then we talked about our evening and then we quick put dinner together and ate dinner.  We ate a nice dinner of turkey burgers and some leftovers.  We got done with dinner and Heather took the kids over to the church for Vacation Bible School at the Chenango Bridge United Methodist Church and came home.  While she was gone, I went downstairs and started to work on my gold AK-47 for “Call of Duty 4″ on the PS3.  I did that until about six-thirty and then Heather and I watched some TV together while I organized some things.  I then started playing around with some ideas for LED lights for my backpack for Dragon Con and then worked on updating the Binghamton FanForce Website.  I then sent out a quick email.

After that I then started to watch my usual Monday night shows.  I watched reruns of “How I Met Your Mother”, “Rules of Engagement”, “Two and a Half Men”, and “Big Bang Theory”.   I also had to leave in the middle of that and pick up the kids.  The kids and I packed our bags for tomorrow and will only have to load up the car in the morning.  Once we finished with that, the kids went ot bed.  I then watched “Semi-Pro” and then went to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 77 of “Star Wars:  The Cestus Deception, A Clone Wars Novel” by Steven Barnes…..Chapter 77 (Part 2):  I nthe underground lake, the color of the energy field that held Obi-Wan and Kit Fisto fluxed for a moment.  Kit felt pain as he leaped through using the lightsaber as a shield to absorb most of the energy.  The protocol droid gave out an order and all the X’Tings in the room put down their blasters.  Kit wondered if they were surrendering and Ventress laughed and said no, becaus she had told them taht they don’t stand a chance against the Jedi with blasters.  She told him to prepare to defend himself.  Obi-Wan groaned as he realized that they simply could not cut down these young X’Tings as they thought they were doing the best for the hive.  Ventress grinned as she said it was a shame they don’t speak X’Ting.  Obi-Wan said they can’t kill them as the X’Ting are innocent, but Kit disagreed.  He knew Ventress was smart to put these minions between them and her.  Kenobi said they would have to fight without their lightsabers.  Kit turned off his lighsaber and said it was time for some exercise…..

By Alexander Lawrie

SCOTS tennis ace Andy Murray has revealed his habit of flexing his muscles after playing a good shot was inspired by US comic Will Ferrell.

And the World number three is to warm up for a crack at next month’s US Open title with a special match against his comedy hero.

The British number one is to line-up against the Hollywood funnyman at the annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day at New York’s Flushing Meadow.

And after beating Rafael Nadal to reach last year’s final all the Scots Twitter addict could talk about was how “pumped” he was to meet his idol.

This week has seen Murray spending a lot of time updating his thousands of fans on the popular social networking site – with mosquitos and Hannah Montana being the main topics of conversation.

Showing off his ‘guns’

But as he prepared for his assault on the US title, Murray said: “This is my favourite tournament. I had the guys from Entourage, which is my favourite show, and Will Ferrell, whom is my favourite comedian, watching yesterday.

“You don’t get that at home.”

Murray’s habit of flexing his muscles after playing a good shot is a tribute to Ferrell’s trademark gag of showing off his “guns”.

Tennis fan Ferrell, star of sports spoof movies Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro was photographed returning the gesture while watching last year’s semi between Murray and Nadal.

Dunblane-born Murray will join fellow tennis ace Andy Roddick – the man who knocked him out of this year’s Wimbledon semi-final – Maria Sharapova and other celebs in the charity tournament on August 29.

Pierce O’Neil, of the US Tennis Association, said: “This year’s Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day will again bring together some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment for a fun filled day for all ages.”

Meanwhile, Murray, who has returned to his training camp in Miami to prepare for next month’s US Open, has been updating his Twitter account on a daily basis.

He and his fitness team have been playing a game involving forfeits which include being forced to watch the Hannah Montana movie and gatecrashing a private party.

He wrote: “Miles has to sit on his own at dinner 2nite. Rob had to walk two miles to lunch. No forfeits for me.”

And Murray has also been plagued by mosquitos after spending an evening playing a round of golf with pals.

He added: “I lost a pint of blood to mossies. Most aggressive insect life ever.

“Twilight golf on a tropical course seems like a good idea until you realise you’re basically playing in a swamp full of blood-sucking insects.”

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention.  I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story.  I need all of you, to stop what you’re doing and listen.  Cannonball! [Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy].

Anytime a new movie comes out that is extremely popular or culturally relevant, “That Guy” takes it upon himself to quote the movie incessantly for the next six months.  He uses every opportunity to slide a quote into the conversation whether it actually fits or not.  Quite often the quote that he chooses comes directly from the movie’s previews so everyone is already familiar with it regardless of whether they have seen the movie.

For some reason, “That Guy” seems to frequently choose the latest Will Ferrell movie to reference ad nauseam.  Note that if there is a recent Sacha Baron Cohen, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, or Ben Stiller movie out, he may intersperse references to these in his conversation as he waits for the perfect opportunity to say “Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said ‘I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.’” [Talladega Nights – The Ballad of Ricky Bobby].

If you ever try to stage an intervention and confront “That Guy” regarding his excessive use of movie quotes, the conversation may sound something like this:

You:  Hey man, I need to talk to you for a second.

That Guy:  You think you need to talk to me, well “[i]n the annals of history people are going to be talking about three things: the discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and the Flint Michigan Mega Bowl.” [Semi-Pro].  What’s up?

You:  There you go – it’s all this quoting of movies.  That’s all you do.  You really need to cut it out; you’re starting to sound like “That Guy.”

That Guy:  “I have a belly full of white dog crap in me, and now you lay this shit on me?” [Step Brothers].  I don’t have a problem; I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong.  I’m quoting hilarious movies and sounding pretty clever as a work them seamlessly into the conversation.  You just don’t get it, “[n]o one knows what it means, but it’s provocative…” [Blades of Glory].

You:  Dude, you really need to cut it out.  We’re all sick and tired of this.  If you don’t drop the quotes we’re going to cut you loose because we can’t deal with it anymore.

That Guy:  I never really looked at it that way.  I’ll try to cut back on the movie references.

You:  Thanks.  We’re good here; we’re cool.

That Guy:  “[I]t’s cool man, bring your green hat!” [Old School].

You:  <saying nothing you just shake your head in disapproval>

It’s okay to gently remind “That Guy” to take some off from quoting movies every now and then.  He will be surprised by how much more free time he has.  You ask him what he’ll be doing with all his newly found free time this weekend and his answer will invariably be “[w]ell, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we’re going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that.  Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.” [Old School].