Despite being a commercial failure upon its initial release, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is still growing strong. Although ostensibly causing developer Troika Games to go under several months later and containing a notorious amount of bugs, the game was well liked by critics and continues to have a faithful cult following. One of the things Bloodlines is best known for is its writing. With such a large cast of highly memorable characters, it’s easy to see the reason. Which NPCs really drew you in or repelled you? Read on for a tentative top ten of Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines Characters.
Stunning Surreal Photography by Elena Vizerskaya
In the world of arts, there is always new inspiration to be found. Street artists all over the world have brought new life to their boring cities, painters portray surreal fantasies, architects play with materials and geometry in order to complete the urban landscape, and photographers always manage to find a new source of inspiration, or immortalize familiar objects and landscapes in a new way. A few weeks ago, we showed you the Most Powerful Photos of 2013. Today we have another collection in mind. Elena Vizerskaya, also known as Kassandra, is one of the most talented young photographers that we have seen in a while.
She is from Russia, and not only does she dabble in photography, but she is also extremely skilled with Photoshop, and photo manipulations. With these skills she managed to create beautiful compositions, painting a world of fantasy, an enthralling universe filled with symbolic meaning, and emotions. Kassandra graduated from the College of Decorative Arts and Design approximately 14 years ago, and she now lives in Kiev, Ukraine.
She is a Photographer, and Model
Not only is she an extremely talented photographer and photo-manipulator, but she is also a beautiful woman. She actually models for many of her photographs, and her gorgeous wavy blonde hair, and turquoise blue sparkly eyes make her such an expressive figure in those stunning images that we wouldn’t have wanted any other model in her stead. In other words, although she is mainly cultivating her talent and passion behind the camera, she also enjoys working on the front end of it too. Most of the images she takes herself, and even if she asks someone to help her, it is usually a close friend from her group. Also, all the other models that appear in her work, are beautiful friends of hers.
What we enjoyed most about her photo sessions is the fact that they are, interestingly enough, spontaneous. Kassandra takes dozens, if not hundreds of photos, carefully analyses them and decides on the spot, in which way she will edit them, and which photos she will edit. The ideas related to photo processing come to her on the spot, and almost every image that she has worked on turned out incredible in the end. The reason, for which her images are so powerful and beautiful, is probably because she has a lot of fun with them. Creation is like a game for her, and because she lets her mind run wild, the results are incredible.
As you have probably already seen from her photographs, Kassandra doesn’t simply take stills of life. She enjoys expressing herself, and finds it more comfortable to come up with an idea herself, especially because she knows exactly what goes through her head. Therefore, she has never considered hiring anyone else for the job, because nobody would ever understand what she is trying to convey through her work. And she is ultimately right: even if you have friends and family supporting you in life, they will probably never be able to understand the full extent of your feelings, nor will they ever see the world through her eyes. Elena Vizerskaya says that if there would ever be a movie made about her life, she would occupy all the posts: director, producer, actors etc.
She says that her inspiration comes especially from traveling around the world. Croatia and India are her main source of inspiration due to their combination of bright colors with which she dared to paint parallel universes. She often says that she wants what she sees, and sees what does not exist. All in all, it is her free-spirited and wild nature that manages to express such powerful emotions through art, and her photographs never cease to amaze us.
5 Interesting Facts You Probably Did not Know about ‘The Hobbit’
To say that Tolkien’s literary creations are a work of genius, would be an understatement. It is not every day that we encounter successful fantasy, but once we do, we never forget it. For those of you who have cherished every moment of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Hobbit” will definitely keep you at the edge of your seats. Just a few days ago, the second part of the Hobbit, “The Desolation of Smaug” was released. The movie may have been nearly three hours long, but to me it seemed like an adrenaline-filled, fascinating and magical adventure that melted into an oh-to-short moment in time.
It is actually incredible how Peter Jackson managed to produce such a complex movie from only one book, and considering that there are only a few dozen pages left to leverage in the creation of movie number three, we might expect a few scenes from Lord of the Rings to unfold in it, to the delight of its fandom. For those of you who have already seen it, the ending was probably not what you had in mind, and the wait might feel like too much to endure, so we have decided to present you with 5 little known things about the Hobbit and LOTR, to pass the time faster.
1. Characters that Appear in Both Trilogies
The depth of connection between the characters of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit is incredible. Here is some fun trivia for you. Do you remember the scenes from the “Mines of Moria”? It is in that faithful place that the Fellowship of the Ring comes across Balin’s tomb. The same Balin that appears in the Hobbit (white haired, big nose). There is one more character that we see in both LOTR and the Hobbit. We are talking about Ori, the child-faced dwarf, and scribe, who wrote the book from which Gandalf reads in the mines. Thranduil, the high-elf who betrayes the dwarfs in the Hobit, is the same Thranduil who rides the giant Moose* in Lord of the Rings. Oh, and he is also Legolas’s father. Last on our list is Gimli, or more exactly his axe, which he inherits from his father, Gloin. He also has the same eyes… and eyebrows.
*We just found out that Thranduil’s Moose is not actually a moose. According to “Middle Earth’s Biology as Shown in the Hobbit”, it is a different species of deer.
2. The Corruption of Gollum
Tolkien decided to rewrite certain passages of “The Hobbit” to better fit his legendary “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Initially, Gollum was a sweet and lovely creature which willingly offers to give up the ring on condition that Bilbo wins the Guessing Game. He was given a darker side, more suitable for the story, to flesh out the evil of the ring’s corruption. Poor, little Smeagol.
3. The First Hobbit, and his Anemic Dwarf Companions
In 1969 Tolkien decided to sell the screen rights to “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings”, because he had some money issues. This lead to the ecranization of a pathetic Hobbit story, where the elves had German accents, Gollum looked like some new species of toad, suspicious gnomes and a big eyed Bilbo.
4. In case you Were Wondering about the Eagles…
Several times during the movie, I could hear people asking why the pretty birdies did not swopp in to rescue the squad. Truth be told, it would have been a lot easier to pass the corrupted forest on their backs. For those of you who were wondering where Gandalf’s eagles were during the Hobbit movie, here is a little info for you: they did not get involved because our most beloved wizard did not have them at their beck and call. Also, they’re not bloody taxis. And they’re not even eagles for that matter, because they’re anatomy is unlike any eagles, they are Aquila.
5. Bilbo, the Dragon Slayer
Initially, Tolkien considered handing the task of killing Smaug to the leaf-smoking hobbit. He quickly changed his mind, and decided to leave the matter to more capable hands. And to be frank, Bilbo doesn’t really look like much of a dragon slayer.
Top 20 Doctor Who Episodes
The Science Fiction Classic Show Doctor Who confuses me like no other TV show I have ever seen. An alien (that looks suspiciously like a series of British persons) flies around time and space in a phone booth, fighting far more horrifying aliens with nothing but his wits and the mystical power of funny hats.
But amidst the time travel and questionable fashion choices, there is apparently a pretty decent show to watch in there. Here are the essential 20 Who serials (British speak for a series of episodes that follow the same story arc within a season) to watch for a casual fan to determine if they like it before they embark on the arduous task of watching almost 800 episodes that comprise the entire show (it’s been on since 1963.) [Read more…]
A musical tribute to This Blog Rules
We recently asked Youtuber extraordinaire Will Hyler to create a music video tribute to TBR in his trademark style. He was more than happy to oblige, and, like a true champeen, was willing to do it out of kindness rather than for pay, earning him a liftetime pass to TBR’s 2,000 acre theme park, set to open in July of 2012 deep in the heart of an undisclosed location.