Sunday, September 30, 2012

Resident Evil: Retribution

Went to Glorietta to pick-up the family picture I had framed at Gallery Frames.  Thumbs up to Gallery Frames!

Did not plan to watch a movie but was "forced" to.  LOL.  Had the driver bring home my prized framed photo.

Had an early lunch.  Decided to try Go Greek! at Food Choices.  Chose the Lamb Chop Platter.  Not bad...  c",)


While waiting for the movie to start, did some window-shopping at Glorietta 5.

Finally, watched Resident Evil:  Retribution.  With the world's population turned into zombies, Alice is once more called to help.  Here, you get a glimpse of how it all came to be.  Because of money, every country has to have the biological weapon--using simulation to entice these countries to buy the virus.  Now, unbeknownst, she would have to have an unholy alliance even with Albert Wesker.  Me thinks there is another movie in this franchise.


Saturday, September 29, 2012

Hotel Transylvania

My movie weekend is Hotel Transylvania.

But first, had lunch at Mongolian Quickstop in Food Choices.


Count Dracula builds a hotel far from the prying eyes of human and serve as safe haven for his daughter, Mavis, and other monsters.  All this went awry when a lone backpacker shows up to the hotel's front door, just when they are to celebrate Mavis' 118the birthday.  Here, the monsters are now what we thought of them to be.  In fact, the monsters are "afraid" of the humans.  It's fun and entertaining.

Attended the anticipated Mass and had dinner at Pizza Hut Bistro.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Fely J's

Friends from Canada will be visiting.

We'll meet up at Fely J's in Greenbelt 5 for dinner.  It's Filipino cuisine.


It was a nice reunion as we spend the night sharing stories and anecdotes.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Advanced Photoshop

Our office's camera club sponsored an advanced Photoshop workshop.  I would just be assisting (and taking down notes).  LOL

One Time Set-up
a)  Open Photoshop.
b)  File>New, any paper size, white background.
c)  Image>Adjustments>Curves;  double click black dropper, RGB value to 20-20-20 (from 0-0-0); double click white dropper, RGB value to 244-244-244 (from 255-255-255);  double click gray dropper, RGB value to 133-133-133 (from 128-128-128);  close and save as default.
e)  Dropper tool, choose 3x3 average.
f)  Close Photoshop.

Raw Processing
*  From Bridge, export to Photoshop as Smart Object.

Adjusting Selected Items
a)  Select portion of image
b)  Ctrl+J (duplicate to a new layer the selection).
c)  To select the selected items in the new layer, click Ctrl+layer. 

Texture Mapping/Displacement Maps 

stage1 - preparing the displacement map (textured surface)

1.Open texture in Photoshop.  Click channelspalette and check for  channel withhighest contrast.
2.Duplicate this channel. under document choose new. Name it whatever you likeand save it.  This creates a new documenton a new tab.  This is the base for the displacement map.
3.Lower detail by using gaussian blur, set to 0.7.  This will make the image smoother later.Convert to grayscale. Save the displacement map as psd.

stage2 - applying the map
1. Select the person's face.  Go to theSelect menu item and Save Selection. Name it whatever you like.
2. Load the original texture file.
3.Load the selection (face) via select/load selection.
4.Go to Channels & cmd/ctrl click on the face selection.
5.Switch back to layers to see the selection outline. Create a layer mask.
6.Change Blend Mode to Overlay
7. Select Texture Layer and unlink the mask.
8.Apply the displacement map…in filters displace/distort 

Face Mask/Clean up

1.Open image
2.Cleaning the face - spot healing brush
3.Select the "mask" and duplicate
4.Select the duplicated mask and run filters/blur/gaussian blur
5.Adjust opacity to taste

During the break, we had our lunch at Chic-Boy.

After the workshop, proceeded to Glorietta to attend the anticipated Mass.  Had dinner at Pizza Hut Bistro.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Resident Evil?

As planned, would have our family picture framed.  The picture is a life-size of me when I was still small.  My parents are seated that is why it is not really THAT big.

But first, dropped-off my niece to Nega Sports Center where their office has a sports activity.

Then, went to Gallery Frames at Glorietta.  I have already canvassed before all the shops at Glorietta that offer framing services, and Gallery Frames offer reasonable price without sacrificing quality.

Lunch first and proceeded to Glorietta 4 Cinemas to watch Resident Evil: Retribution.  Uh-oh!  If I watch the movie, won't be able to attend the anticipated Mass.  Verdict:  window shop, instead.  LOL

Attended the anticipated Mass and had dinner at New Bombay.

Saturday, September 08, 2012

ParaNorman


My movie weekend is ParaNorman, an adventure, animation, comedy film about a young boy who can speak to the dead.  Misunderstood by his townsfolk, they eventually turn to him as zombies "attack" their town due to a witch's curse.  The film was able to present the terror and confusion of a boy who feels the world is against him, wrapped in a horror-comedy genre.  There are lots of lessons to be learned in the film.  Like!

Then, attended the anticipated Mass and had dinner at T.G.I. Friday's.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

The Possession



My movie weekend is Sam Rami's The Possession.  But first, dropped by Claudette's to buy a Cloud 9 cake and lunch of grilled pork chop.

Since my movie would start around 3pm, paid bills and did some window shopping.

A young girl who bought a cursed antique on a yard sale was suddenly possessed by a malevolent spirit.  In order to break the curse, her divorced parents have to work together to free her.  It is not really that scary (although some people in the cinema are reacting... hehehe!) but it is well-paced.  So far, up on my list of scary films is The Exorcism of Emily Rose.  Oh, The Possession is based on a true story.  Click the link.

Then, attended the anticipated Mass and had dinner Pizza Hut Bistro.