Sunday, June 16, 2013
How To Share Your Flickr Photos On Your Blog
Blogging has become a way for many to express their ideas and opinions. Some people, however, choose to use blog to keep their friends and family up to date on the happenings within their lives. Using Flickr, people who own blogs can add photos and/or video to the blog content. Adding content to your blog is easy using the tools that Flickr has set up. The following are the steps to take to add content to your blog.
Step 1: Log Into Your Account
Log in to the Flickr website. You will need to enter your Yahoo! user name and password to do so. Once you are on the home page for the Flickr website, click on the you tab at the top of the website. The following options are available under this tab: your photostream, your sets your archives, your tags, your map, your favorites, your stats, recent activity, upload photos and videos, your account, your profile and Flickrmail. Click on the option that reads "Your Account".
Step 2 - Extend Flickr
After you click on the "Your Account" link you will be redirected to a new page. This part of the Flickr website is where you can configure your profile, permissions and other aspects of your Flickr account. You will then click on the tab that reads "Extending Flickr". Under this tab there are several options to advance your photo sharing experience with the Flickr website. There options that are listed under this tab include: your printing location, account links, your blog and your Facebook account. Under the option that says your blogs click on the link that says "Configure Your Flickr To Blog Settings".
Step 3 - Configure Your Blog
This link will open a new page on the website. This area is where you will configure your blog so that you can post your photos onto your blog site. On this page you will click the link that reads "Set Up Your Blog". Next you will choose the type of blog that you have. Once you have chosen the type of blog, you will have to sign in to your Gmail account or create a new Gmail email account. This needs to be done to give Flickr permission to access your blogs RSS feed. Once you have logged in to your Gmail email account simply click on the "Grant Permission" link. The last thing you need to do is add the URL for your blog as well as a blog title. You can now post pictures to your blog from your Flickr account.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Zero Dark Thirty Movie Review
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong
Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s second directorial venture Zero Dark Thirty could’ve gone horribly wrong. The good news is that it doesn’t.
Doing in-depth research for a film is one thing but encapsulating all prominent facts and accommodating them in a tight screenplay is a different ballgame altogether. Zero Dark Thirty successfully manages to ace the research required to chronicle the events surrounding the hunt for ‘The most wanted man in the world’ aka Osama Bin Laden. Don’t let the length of the film discourage you because the gripping narrative immediately sucks you in from the very first scene till the credits finally roll.
Bigelow, along with her terrific writer Mark Boal, present a powerful story backed by facts that are brilliantly infused into the film’s narrative. Even when you know what’s eventually going to happen, you’re still made to feel the eerie tension in the narrative and a few shocks in the plot just make it edgier.
One aspect that stands out the most in this film is the absence of romanticizing triumph. Most American war movies tend to advertise ‘The Great American Dream’ through melodrama and over-the-top sequences. ZDT does not take that route at all. It is raw story-telling at its best, sans any frills. Like the torture scenes, for which Bigelow faced so much unrequired flak, which are portrayed with brutality and ruthlessness, mirroring the mood of the situation. Or even, while portraying the nature of the characters which emerge at the most unexpected of times. After you’ve watched the film, these scenes and character idiosyncrasies refuse to let go, as they constantly remind you how ‘real’ they were.
Another huge achievement for Bigelow-Boal duo is to not only break stereotypes but crush them into smithereens. ZDT’s main protagonist, Maya played by the brilliantly nuanced Jessica Chastain, who in a way is the sole person who believes that Bin Laden is in Pakistan and not hiding in some cave. There are various scenes where men look down upon her, are indifferent to her and some are even ignorant about her existence and importance in the CIA. She sets them right, with a poker face and a stern reply. One of my favourite scenes in the film is when an officer from the President’s team is being briefed about the plan to capture Bin Laden. He poses a question to the team, full of men, who supposedly don’t have an answer to the query. Maya’s strategic reply, takes the officer by surprise and he inquires about her credentials. “…And who are you?” He asks. “The motherfu**er who found this place,” she replies referring to Bin Laden’s hideout. Many such scenes bring a tinge of layered sarcasm into this dramatic film.
Jessica Chastain as Maya is just unbelievable. How can the perfectly-accented Gia from Madagascar 3 and Maya from ZDT be the same actor? She has proved her range time and again but this time she’s risen above expectations. Watch out how she perfectly plays this innocent, naïve-looking woman who suddenly transforms into an encyclopaedia of OBL and his network, spewing cuss words, clashing with senior authorities and not giving up even after surviving an assassination attempt. She’s the heart and soul of ZDT.
While you watch Chastain weave magic on screen, one can’t help but imagine maybe Bigelow was trying to project herself through the character. Just maybe, Bigelow is Maya. Who fights all odds in a surrounding still dominated by men, to do what she does best – make movies. And we sincerely hope she keeps doing that. Can’t wait for her
Jack the Giant Slayer Movie Review
Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ directed by Bryan Singer starring Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ewan McGregor is an action-adventure fantasy film, inspired by the classic fairy tale of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
The fairy tale follows Jack, a poor farmer, who accidentally sows magic bean seeds which grow into a gigantic beanstalk, in his back-yard. Jack climbs up the stalk and finds a giant castle, where there lives a ruthless giant. He steals the giant’s riches, i.e. a hen that lays golden eggs and a harp which plays on its own, and uproots the beanstalk to kill the giant.
The plot of ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ takes off from there: Jack accidentally opens a gateway to the world of Giants, and an ancient war restarts. Jack is forced into a fight to not only save his own life, but that of those in the kingdom and the princess.
The promo promises a film full of romance, action, and giants (of course!). The power packed trailer ends with fantastic visual effects of a mob of giants running behind 6 men on horses.
Director Bryan Singer whose last film ‘X-Men: First Class’ was a massive success and is currently busy with ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ says, “I grew up reading the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Fairy tales are often born of sociopolitical commentary and translated into stories for children. But what if they were based on something that really happened?”
Special 26 Movie Review
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill and Kajal Aggarwal
Inspired by real-life events. That statement creates a certain blanket effect for a film. Saving it from its own loop holes, because the viewers’ mind keeps harking back to the thought that ‘this really happened’. Special 26 benefits from that statement immensely. On the strength of its actors’ performances and filmmaking technique this film rises above its many narrative loop holes to give you a fairly entertaining experience.
Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday was lauded because it had a social stand and it gave a fierce voice to the common man’s supressed emotions. Nothing of that sort happens in Special 26. But, had the film taken one such stand, perhaps we’d have had another Munnabhai MBBS. But it doesn’t. Instead, it plays out like a regular heist movie. A band of very professional guys fake CBI identities and raid a minister’s home. They make off with all his black money and of course nobody files complaints because end of the day its theft of illegal assets. But an honest cop and a spirited CBI officer team up to hunt the perpetrators down. There’s a romantic angle as well, but that is by far the weakest link of the film.
Watching the meticulously planned heists in Special 26 is a thrilling experience. The depth of writing shines through in its plots and subplots. The movie pits two lead characters against one another, Akshay Kumar’s Ajay and Manoj Bajpayee’s Waseem. Ajay’s confident the law and order can’t apprehend him and Waseem believes he can outsmart any crook on the planet. As these guys lock horns the movie’s entertainment kicks into gear. The drama is amplified by superb dialogue that adds a touch of dry humour as well.
This is a movie based in 1987. Pandey’s shot on location in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. Full marks to him and his production designer for getting the period feel right. With smart camera angles, a little CGI and superb prop use (old cars, clothes, hoardings, newspapers etc) Special 26 recreates an India in the eighties. Also valuable are the background music and shots where the camera walks with the characters. It creates a sense of adrenaline. Making you sit up and take notice.
All said and done, when the climax finally hits you it leaves too many questions unanswered. Too many possibilities unresolved. If the CBI know where you live, it’s obvious they won’t let you get away. But the story’s shortcomings really don’t matter because by the time the end arrives performances from Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpayee and Anupam Kher have charmed the pants off everyone. Akshay gives a controlled performance sans any of his usual onscreen histrionics. Bajpayee is as good as he always is, but the show stealer here is Mr Kher. His nervous and edgy character keeps jumping into bouts of overconfident leadership and the veteran actor shows why he’s one of the best acting talents in the country, ever.
Special 26 is an engaging film. Sure it’s end could’ve been much better. Sure this isn’t Pandey’s best. But this is still one of the best films you’ll watch this year.
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