Olloclip

Hi Everyone!  Meet Griffin.  For those who game, you know where he's from!  He has graciously agreed to be my model today.  Modelling what?  My new Non-beauty toy - the OlloClip!!!!!

I know that this isn't beauty related (for those that read both my blogs, this will also be posted on my gaming side), but I love this product so much, I thought that I would share.

This is a little lens that is made for you iPhone4 or iPhone4S.  It just clips onto the corner with your camera and instantly gives you three different lens to play with : wide angle, fish eye and macro.  I purchased mine from London Drugs because it was sale, but it retails for $69.99 at the Apple store.  Definitely a steal for what you're getting.  There is another lens out there called iPro, which retails for nearly $200.  I just figure, if I'm going to spend that much money anyways, I might as well save up a couple hundred more and get a real lens for my DSLR, which would take better pictures anyways.

I'm fairly new at photography and it's something that I enjoy doing.  But I don't want to lug around my big DSLR everywhere I go...nor do I have the thousands of dollars to spend to buy the individual lenses either, so I figured, for $70, even if it's a bust, i'll just return it and no harm and no foul.  Turns out, i'm NOT going to return it because I absolutely LOVE it!  It has it's limitations and I'll go through it in detail with each lens.  But as you can see to the right, there is a lens on each side of the unit.  On of the sides, you just unscrew one of the lens's and you've got the third one.  It all comes in a handy little pouch and each side has a little lens cap to protect it when not in use.

Uh....just a warning, I didn't really realize how messy my desk really was until I uploaded the pictures.....so...don't judge...I'm not really that messy!

Let's start with some general limitations.  I found that sometimes I had problems with the flash reflecting inwards and causing a bright spot in the middle of the shot.  It doesn't happen all of the time, but it does happen in say, 99% of the time, so it's almost like you can't use it if you need to use the flash.  You also can't use it for the front facing camera.  In addition, if you have a case for your phone, you'll have to take it off in order to use the lens.  Often, i found myself gripping my camera so hard, like my life depended on it, because I didn't want to accidentally drop it.

Wide Angle Shot

First lens up is the Wide Angle Shot.  In comparison to the regular shot, it captures a great deal more in the shot.  What happens is that it causes a wide angle magnification as opposed to zoom.  So it looks like I'm a lot further away from Mr. Griffin, but I wasn't.  (Ugh..the mess.  I'm soooo sorry guys!)  It's by no means a perfect panoramic type of wide angle because you'll notice that towards the edges of the shot, the picture starts to bend (which would happen with a regular wide angle lens, but definitely not to this degree).  It's probably not noticeable to most people, but it's there.  I do want to stress that for these pictures, I pretty much had the same position and didn't deviate much distance wise between the wide angle, fish eye and regular shot.

Fish Eye Shot

Second Lens is the Fish Eye.  I've always really like this effect but I just can't (or at least, not yet) justify spending $800 for a fish eye lens.  This effect is supposed to bend the corners of your shot to give you a fish-bowl type of view.  The kind where it's like you're viewing the world through a glass bowl filled with water.  You'll notice that in each corner, it's black, but that's just the effect from the lens.

The last lens is the macro.  This is another lens that I'd like to eventually get for my DSLR.  All you do is screw off the wide angle lens and voila!  The macro lens.  I must admit, this one is the most impressive of the three lenses.  I'm amazed at how close up of a shot I was able to get with this one.  I can't say enough!  This one would be worth the price of the Olloclip alone.  There is one thing that does happen with this lens, but if you have the patience, it will fix itself is that sometimes the camera tries to autofocus and keeps trying to autofocus.  If you give it time (i'm talking seconds, not minutes), it'll focus correctly.  And when it does, magical things happen.  I did have to use a different subject for this shot...as much as I'm sure you'd like to see Mr. Griffin's little beak hairs up close, I thought that I'd save that for next time.

Macro Shot

Yes, that is the face of my watch.  No photoshop trickery at all.  Now you see what I mean?

Overall, I really like this product and definitely recommend it.  It's great in the way that it's not a prohibitively expensive gadget, but because it'll provide a lot of use for someone like me who wants to take those great shots, but doesn't want to lug the big camera around.  

Apple of my eye?

I have this weird love hate relationship with Apple products.  I find that they are cool and intuitive once you understand how they work, but I don't find them technologically advanced.  Let me explain, for the amount of money you, say spend on a mac book, you could easily get a nice little Alienware laptop (speaking from a gaming perspective, of course).  I mean, when my desktop crapped out last year, my husband insisted on getting me a mac.  Guess what?  Doesn't run WOW very well. And I can't EVEN begin to play Skyrim on it.  You wanna know what I can play on this thing?  Nothing.  Yet, I own an iPad (original), iPhone, iPod nano and Appletv. I love how everything is interconnected and almost effortless to try and sync things and etc.  But I hate how e.v.e.r.y.t.i.m.e I wake my computer up from sleep mode, I have to find my wireless connection again...and again...and again.  I want to scream!  I probably don't use this thing for anything other than the basics.  If I want to game, I need to use my husband's gaming computer.  I know that re-learning how to use a computer is very frustrating.  Whoever thought that to close a program down, clicking the "x" would be enough is a genius.  Whoever thought that having to actually shut down the program by clicking drop down menu and "quitting" should be shot.  And what happened to my delete button as I know it on my pc?  And what is up with all these freaking shortcuts???  I can't handle it.  And no number pad????  It's not all that bad.  It's got a beautiful screen.  And it looks cool.


But this leads me to ask the question, if they announce the release of the iPad 3 come March 7th, will you buy one?  I probably will.  

Massive Lay-Offs at Blizzard and What this Means to You and Your Gaming Experience

Sorry for the long winded title!

Today, Blizzard announced that it was laying off a bunch of people.  Click here for article.  When I first saw the wowhead tweet, I was shocked, but not really surprised.  With the gradual loss of nearly 2 million subscribers and less than awesome patches and expansions (c'mon, since the Lich King, when have you been truly excited??) it was bound to start hurting. The loss of paying subscribers means less revenue but the expenses remain high. This is not to say that Blizzard is about to declare bankruptcy - we all know that isn't true.  It just simply means that they no longer have the numbers to keep the employees.  And as we all know that in this day in age, as soon as the bottom line starts becoming the top line,  companies get vicious and just start the massive cost cutting.

They didn't really release the true numbers of how many were cut, but rumours have it that nearly 600 jobs were cut.  Unfortunately, they are probably from the support departments.  With less community managers and perhaps even GMs, it means longer wait times - period.  So when that hacker decides to steal your shit and move your character, instead of waiting a week to get everything back, it'll be a month.  

But really, Blizz?  Didn't you see this coming?  Especially with the disappointing crap you've been putting out?  Did you think that the paying audience was going to lap it all up and be content?  Honestly, I can't see myself playing beyond Mists of Pandaria (MOP).  Unfortunately, like a sucker, I locked myself in for another year just so I could get Diablo for free and a beta key for Mists.  Beyond that....I'm just waiting for Guild Wars 2, bitches. Okay, gotta go play Skyrim until it's time to raid.

I Love My Game Apps!!!

I guess I love all games. No matter how childish.  I'm totally addicted to these games that I have on my iPhone and iPad.  I had to get an iPhone so I could play my games when I'm not at home.  Alas, I didn't buy the 3G iPad, hence the need for an iPhone.


I will play nearly anything that is cutesy...and free.  Well, I've paid for a couple of game apps, but I've never played them for long.  Here's a little insight to my obsession.  On a normal work day, I need to leave the house by 6:30am -6:40am the latest, which means that I need to wake up at least by 6:15am (especially if I decide not to put on my face that day) in order to get out the door in time.  So....I will set my alarm for 5:10am so I can get all my farming and collecting done.  Sometimes, if I didn't time things right the day before, I may actually be harvesting, popping hearts and feeding until nearly 6:15am.  Yes, you read right.  I have to get up nearly an hour earlier in over to get my stuff done.  I'd rather do it on my iPad than on my phone in the mornings just because my phone battery drains quicker if I use it play games.  Sad isn't it?  Or crazy?  My friends think that it's insane, but they don't understand how AWESOME these games are!!!!  Tiny Chef, Pet Hotel, We Farm, We Rule, We City, Tap Island, Tap Zoo, Trade Nations, DragonVale....the list goes on.  I was playing games like Words with Friends.  But being the sore loser that I am, I don't like it much.  Not that I'm ever at a loss for words for anything.  And I swear, my friend was cheating!  I was playing with a friend and I was losing - just barely, of course....and he was making fun of me.  Probably because he knew that he was going to win.  What did I do?  I just deleted the app.  I totally denied him the win!  HAHA!  Do not mess with me!


What are some of your favourite game apps?

On the Skyrim Bandwagon

I finally did it.  I joined the bandwagon.  I bought Skyrim.  Or Skeerim.  I say that to bug my friends.  I have yet to actually open up the game to play with because I've been busy with rated battlegrounds and raiding, but this weekend, I shall try it.  I was thinking of trying god mode or god cheat.  Whatever you want to call it.  I get frustrated easily whenever I die.  Trust me, a lot of that happened when I was levelling one of my many characters in WOW.  I blame the husband.  He always bites off more than he can chew and unfortunately, being the resident healer, i'm stuck trying to keep him up.  So, this time around, with this single player, I may just cheat. I was told that the easy mode was really easy and that I won't die and blah blah blah....Don't believe it.  And I don't wanna risk it.  So there.  It's been decided.  God mode it is.

NERFING ME?

As  a Holy Paladin, I get nerved all of the time.  And if they nerd me too much, they regret it and make us OP.  Or so they say.  Why can't we dominate the charts once in a while?  Why must I always be a support role???  Seriously without me, the tank would be dead and everyone else would be oom!  Okay, maybe not that last part, but you get my drift.  It just makes me soooo sad.

Oh!  I managed to Private rank in rated battlegrounds.  It was a good group.  There are a lot of people in my guild who love pvp'ing.  And I mean LOVE it.  I don't really love it, but if they don't mind, then I'll ride on their coat tails.

Otherwise, nothing new to report.  Our raid weeks have been very dismal because recruitment has nearly all been busts.  Noone wants to move off server anymore.  So we haven't had enough healers to do Heroics.  Oh, almost at 13000 achievement points.  Yeah, I've been that bored.  Maybe I should, like, read a book or something.

Achievement Whore

Achievement Whore by WoPairs  <-- Perfectly describes my love for nerd points.

I may not have the highest amount of nerd points, but I do love me some points.  I'm not too sure what I love the most, people gratzing me, the little announcement or the achievement coming up in the bottom middle of my screen.  Probably all of it.  In my particular guild, we all love nerd points.  So it's always a competition to see who's number one.  Two others were kicking my ass until I started doing mah battleground achievements and now, like a girl should be, I'm on top.
Drunkgirl
So boys, eat your little hearts out, Drunkgirl is here.