(no subject)

Since I got such great, helpful comments last time when I mentioned our ongoing quest for a digital camera, I figured I might as well try again. I'm getting really tired of the mouse when it comes to trying to get fine detail and precise lines for both my freelance graphic art work, and the sketches I like to do in my spare time. So I'm thinking seriously about getting a graphics tablet, and I've been looking at the Wacom Graphire II since it seems to be fairly cheap but the maker has a good reputation. Anyone out there have one of these, or can otherwise comment on it?

Also, apparently this thing comes with a cordless mouse in addition to the pen and tablet, but by all accounts the mouse is pretty useless and no sane person would be buying this package for the mouse anyway. So I'm wondering if I can have both the graphics tablet and my original (corded) mouse hooked up at the same time, and just switch back and forth when I feel like it -- or whether I'd have to go through the process of unhooking one, hooking up the other, and rebooting every time I want to do something different. Does anybody know?

Graphics tablets and the art of crime

I've just posted a question to the blog about the Wacom Graphire II graphics tablet, which I'm seriously thinking about buying at some point (hopefully soon). If any of you are familiar with graphics tablets in general or this one in particular, would you mind having a look at said post and leaving a comment, here or there, to let me know what you think?

In a completely unrelated bit of news, I watched the recent remake of The Italian Job last night. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it, not after the scathing review I'd heard on CBC Radio when the movie first came out in theatres. Then, the reviewer had said the movie was hopelessly dull, with flat characters, a slow-moving plot, and utterly lacking in the wit and verve that marked the original. Well, I haven't seen the original movie myself, so I wasn't inclined to make those kinds of odious comparisons; still, the review did cause me to approach the remake with some skepticism.

But you know what? I really liked it.

Oh, it's not deep. It's not exceptional. And I can't imagine wanting to sit down and watch it more than once or twice. But nevertheless, I found it engaging, surprising, and fun. I have a weakness for caper flicks (I liked the Ocean's Eleven remake, too), and this had all the twists and turns and logical puzzles, plus the clever teamwork and camaraderie, that make a caper flick enjoyable for me.

It sure is a two-hour commercial for the Austin Mini, though. But at least they didn't subject us to endless closeups of the manufacturer's logo in the middle of the chase scenes (which I'm sure all of us who learned to loathe the Ford Focus last year, thanks to a series of anvillicious product placements on Alias, would approve).

Watching Seth Green as the team's resident hacker was a slightly surreal experience, though. Aside from finding him the most attractive guy in the film looks-wise (which says something about my indifference to Mark Walhberg), I kept frowning at him and wondering who he reminded me of. About halfway through the film I realized it was Clay Aiken. Hee!

Anyway, yeah. Italian Job fun. And it has Donald Sutherland in it. 'Nuff said.

ETA: If for no other reason, it's worth checking out that pic of Clay Aiken just to see that the guy has the biggest feet in the history of the world. They're like pontoons! It's unbelievable!

BTW, am I the only one who has noticed...

...that the new version of the Semagic LJ client has a bad, bad habit of sending your latest posts to the previous day if you don't remember to keep an eye on the "Update Time Automatically" box and make sure it's checked every time you post?

I keep getting alerts from my Friends list and then finding that the page looks exactly the same as it did the last time I checked -- I'm starting to wonder if a lot of you are having similar troubles with Semagic.

Grrr.

Alec, this is for you...

Thanks to avarill for finding this delightful little gem:

Middle-Earth MapQuest

Hee!

(no subject)

Thanks to everybody who commented on the last post -- your remarks were very helpful and confirming. Now that I've talked it over with Hubby, it looks like ordering the Graphire II is a "go". And thanks to Canada Post and the nice folks at NCIX.com, I should have it in about a week. Woo!!!