John Kivus » Writings

Wall Art

Kivus — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:38:08 +0000

I recently switched my study into a different room in my house. As part of that move, I decided to rearrange my art collection. This was the final result:

The art is broken down into two major sections: commissions (and one print) of my favorite character, Harley Quinn, and commissions from Robert Wilson IV.

Harley Quinn

The pieces in this section: (click the artist name for a closeup)

Upper Left – Jeremy Dale
Upper Right – Josh Howard
Middle Right – Brian Shearer
Middle Left – Colleen Coover
Lower Right – Mike Maihack (print)

Robert Wilson IV

As you can tell, I am a huge fan of Robert’s artwork. I love his style and I think that he has an excellent grasp of anatomy in his drawings. I have a feeling that my collection of his work will continue to grow.

Upper Left – Jeanette from Secret Six (HeroesCon 2011)
Upper Right – Starling (NC Comiccon 2011)
Lower Middle – Harley Quinn (HeroesCon 2010)

Buying a Printer v. Using a Photolab

Kivus — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:22:45 +0000

Over at Photofocus Scott Bourne has a post of questions to ask yourself as you try to decide whether or not to invest in a photo printer versus using a lab printing service.

I use a WHCC for all of my printing. Mr. Bourne lists the two reasons I do:

You don’t have time or interest in learning color management, printer profiling, etc.
…
You can’t financially justify the cost of a printer, paper and ink against the cost of the lab’s costs.

Sums it up for me.

Trey Ratcliff Offers a 9-Class, 3-Week Webinar

Kivus — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:47:20 +0000

Trey Ratcliff has announced a new photography webinar. The webinar lasts 3 weeks, starting on May 8th and includes 3 days of classes per week (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday). Here is a more detailed description:

We will start from the beginning. Even though it is indeed an HDR-centric class, we will actually be talking about all sorts of photography and post-processing topics. For example, if you’re having trouble understanding how I use Photoshop in a certain way, then you will see many examples of me doing this in person. 9 hours of hearing me talk and watching how I create photos on the screen should be more than enough to get you up and running!
Also, you get full access to the Clubhouse, which is a private forum area of Stuck In Customs. We’ll even make a special section just for the class where you can download any sessions that you missed. After the class, you’ll be able to access the main part of the clubhouse to talk with all the other members, share techniques, and get the latest scoop on all sorts of fun stuff.

Based on my previous experience with Trey’s HDR DVDs, I have pretty high hopes for what this webinar can offer. Unfortunately, the dates are right at the cross road of my law school finals and the beginning of studying for the bar. I hope that he ends up offering the webinar for video download to non-attendees later in the year.¹

Link to Webinar

As with all products offered by Stuck in Customs, I do get a small referral fee for people who sign up via my website. I do not think that has any impact on my opinions of the products, however, feel free to take it into account. ↩

The Stages of an Amateur Photographer

Kivus — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:50:19 +0000

Jorge Quinteros recently quoted Dan Biggins about the stages of an amateur Photographer.

1st Stage: You aimlessly wander around shooting anything that looks vaguely interesting. “Look, a squirrel…! – click, click, click.
2nd Stage: You’ve just discovered the power of depth of field and you ultimately lose count of the number of coffee mugs or inanimate objects you’ve shot just so you could blur the background.
3rd Stage: You’re gaining confidence you can capture something of interest on your next photographic venture so you take 500 shots with hopes that at least 3 of them would look as good as they did on the LCD screen.

I think I’m comfortably in the 3rd Stage at this point (even if I haven’t been shooting as much recently as I was during the summer). I agree with Jorge about where I’d like to be:

The ideal place to be would be past stage three where I assume any description would involve you talking about your interested in more than just photography.
…
I think you have to have a deep curiosity for something in order for it to translate as something interesting . That’s the spot I want to be at.

Is Flare by Iconfactory an Instagram for Mac?

Kivus — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:00:38 +0000

I have been playing with Flare by The Iconfactory for a few weeks now. I have had mixed feelings, mostly because I use Aperture for all of my photo process. The presets are nice enough, but I am not sure they are all exactly my style. On the other hand, if you are someone who is looking for a Instagram-like set of filters on the Mac, then maybe this is the answer. Since I don’t think I am going to use the program in enough detail to write a full review, I would refer you to the MacStories Flare Review for more in-depth analysis and examples.

When should you start selling for your work?

Kivus — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:17:06 +0000

To put it another way, you should charge for your photographs for the same reason that you charged for the lemonade that you sold at the edge of your driveway in the summertime. You certainly weren’t a professional lemonade maker, but you provided a product that had real value to those who bought it from you. You put your time and effort into the process, and even if some of your customers were only your parents’ friends, the monetary intent of those transactions was real.

I completely agree. Do not wait to start selling your work.

(via The Photoletariat)

The Girl Who Played with Fire – Review

Kivus — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:16:29 +0000

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the moment I first heard about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I was intrigued by the one of main characters: Lisbeth Salander. Early buzz was about a punky, computer hacker hacker with a dragon tattoo and I thought that sounded like just the type of character I wanted to read about. Of course, that initial book revealed that Lisbeth was much more than the initial buzz led me to believe.

Though Lisbeth is the title character in both The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire, she is much more central to the latter. The The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was Lisbeth’s Raider of the Lost Ark. It was a book that had an overarching story that introduced a multilayered and fascinating protagonist, but was not a book about her. The Girl Who Played with Fire is more a “Lisbeth Salander in Story XYZ” book. The book is much more about her. Since I find Lisbeth so interesting, I do not necessarily mind this.

It’s impossible for me to rate The Girl who Played with Fire in a vacuum. Obviously, anyone who reads this will have already read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. As a character study of a fascinating character, it excels. As a stand alone story, however, it falls short of its predecessor.

View all my reviews

Review Originally Posted At: Blog.Kivus.com

Mass Effect: Retribution – Review

Kivus — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:15:03 +0000

Retribution by Drew Karpyshyn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve been a major fan of BioWare’s games, and their associated tie-ins, since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in 2003. The games have stories that are tightly coupled to their gameplay mechanics and this combination makes it nearly impossible for me to walk away once I’ve started playing them. The Mass Effect universe was a unique IP created by BioWare that has already spawned two mega-hit video games (with a third game due Christmas 2011). In addition to the game itself, there have been tie-in books and comics. Mass Effect: Retribution is a fairly direct sequel to 2008’s Mass Effect: Ascension (the novel) and also builds upon the events of Mass Effect 2 (the video game).

ME:Retribution is the first of the ME novels that contains the same characters as the previous novel. The other two novels took place in the same universe as the video game but introduced new characters for each particular story. This book centers on the two main characters from the previous book, introduces one major new character, and also contains appearances from two characters that players of the ME games will be familiar with. The ME Books have never been particularly rich on character development, however, and this one is no exception. The book moves at a quick pace, going from beat to beat without much time to reflect or to showcase the characters. It’s what I expected, but it doesn’t necessarily excuse that style of plotting.

One of the reasons I get so wrapped up in the BioWare games is their tight plots. They drive the player hard to an end goal. The first to ME books followed this kind of tight plotting. ME: Retribution, however, seemed to meander. The book seemed to have trouble finding its way at points and, were it not for its attachment to the ME universe, I might have set it aside for a bit. Ultimately, it’s the book’s attachment to the ME universe that is its biggest selling point. Even though the plot is only tangentially related to the games, seeing characters you’re familiar with from the games is entertaining. I was disappointed with the plotting in this book when I compare it to previous ME efforts, but I would still recommend it to ME fans. With the third Mass Effect game about a year away, it’s decent way to scratch that ME itch.

View all my reviews

The Confession – Book Review

Kivus — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:39:32 +0000

The Confession by John Grisham
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the first John Grisham book I’ve read since I started law school. To be honest, I probably would not have read this book if my mother had not had it waiting for me when I went to visit at Christmas. More importantly, I probably would not have burned through it as quickly as I did were I not motivated to finish it before I left (thereby avoiding the need to pack it and bring it home with me).

I’m not sure exactly how to classify this book. It’s not really a mystery; there is nothing that needs to be solved. It’s not really a thriller; there is only mild tension to speak off. It’s more like a “recounting” of some fictional event. Even more unfortunate, it’s a recounting of a fictional event that is used as a way to provide an anti-death penalty screed.

I’ve taken a criminal law class. I’ve heard all the arguments against the death penalty. I understand why some people oppose It so strongly. Do I want to read a book whose apparent purpose is cloth these arguments in some nice narrative? No, not really. I guess this is what people who believe in man-made global warming felt like when they read Michael Crichton’s State of Fear.

That leaves me to qualify the review. I’m giving the book two [2] stars. The rather uneventful plot and sort of mundane narrative earn it three [3] stars and I’m subtracting another star for his insertion of a crim. law guest lecture into my escapist fiction.

View all my reviews

Mind Games Review

Kivus — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:08:29 +0000

Mind Games by Carolyn Crane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a comic book reader, I have no problem jumping into the middle of an ongoing series and being perfectly content to just figure out things as I go along. I assume I might miss out on some little nod to previous stories, but I am perfectly okay with that if the story I am reading is solid on its own. Series that are clearly marked as finite, however, I normally take the time to start from the beginning.

When I was filling out the Goodreads “End of Year” Awards, I spent some time reading the reviews of the various nominees. I was stuck by the particularly high reviews and large amounts of praise that was heaped on the second book of Carolyn Crane’s Disillusionists Trilogy. Though the overall body of the reviews on the first book, Mind Games, were not as high, the reviews I read spoke highly and contained things like “noir” and “comic book-y”. Ultimately, this was enough for me to give it a shot.

I understand now why people used term like “noir” and “comic book-y”. The book has some elements of both. What really stands out about the book, however, is its concept of “powers”. The concept is far from the traditional set of superhero powers and does not fall anywhere near currently popular vampire, werewolf, witch paranormal trappings. Instead, the powers are something all together new and refreshing.

The story provides a suitable amount of twists and turns to keep the reader involved. There is a decent amount of foreshadowing and a clever reader will probably see some of the more interesting twists coming, but the story is engaging nonetheless. Ms. Crane makes an interesting choice on her chapter organization by fully containing the smaller arcs within each chapter. None of the individual chapters end on some cliff hanger that makes the reader say “must. start. next. chapter.” I found this structure allowed me to budget my time time to read the book more efficiently and, as a result, burn through it rather quickly. Besides, the overall story arc was more than engaging enough to want me to keep reading.

Those people who say this is a noir book must be reading different noir than I’m used to. Though it does have a noir-ish feel at some points, there is an overall optimism to the book that I do not think falls within the traditional noir realm. Also, I did not expect as many “romance” elements in the book as there ended up being (though that’s probably from my lack of overall research on that book, not any false advertising by the author or publisher). After reading books like The Hunger Games Trilogy, the more adult takes on romance and relationships were a nice change of pace. Though I would have been perfectly entertained without those elements , they in no way hampered by enjoyment of the story. Most importantly, they didn’t take take me out of the story like I have found in some YA-targeted books.
Overall, I was extremely pleased with Ms. Crane’s work. I fully anticipate the second book in this trilogy, Double Cross, to be occupying a spot in my “currently reading” queue in the next couple of weeks.

View all my reviews