Frightfully Expensive Search Results

News: Functional LEGO Snow-Eating Beast

The Stilzkin Indrik is a mighty, mini LEGO Russian crawler, capable of lugging heavy loads over snowy terrain: "It has a large contact surface, which prevents it from sinking into the snow. It offers great traction on almost any surface, and loads of torque to get out of tight spots."

News: Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year

Brilliant article with many useful links. May be out of some peoples comfort zone. Ask anyone what they wish they could do more of, and the answer is literally always the same: “I wish I could travel more.” Yet when you remove all the excuses, few people actually do. I don’t have enough vacation days! It’s too expensive. My friends don’t want to go with me.....

Cyrus: The Puffy Chair meets Money and Famous People

Cyrus comes out tomorrow, having wowed people at Sundance and at SXSW where the directors, the Duplass brothers, had earlier success with their mumblecore feature The Puffy Chair. It's very funny, and very well made and it should be of particular interest to lo/no-budg filmmaking dudes and dudettes because it is literally the model of what can be done with talent and hard work.

News: Working Bugatti Veyron Built with 10,000 Empty Cigarette Packs

Cobbled together from thousands of empty cigarette packs, this electric-powered vehicle puts the "car" in carcinogen. Looking suspiciously like something the China National Tobacco Corporation would commission as part of an advertising campaign, the Bugatti Veyron-style auto is actually meant to discourage smoking. The English-language version of the People's Daily offers the following explanation:

News: Fake Cakes

The average cost of a wedding cake is $543, according to The Bridal Association of America. The more people you need to feed and the more elaborate you want your cake to be, the more it will cost you.

How To: This DIY Camera-Mounted Flash Bounce Wall Does Wonders for Your Photos (And Your Wallet)

Everyone has taken a photo that didn't turn out quite right because of bad lighting or a flash that produced too much or too little light. A flash can make your subject look washed out, or even downright creepy with bright white skin and red eyes. But with a bounce wall, you can redirect the light to make it less harsh and reduce the shadows. It also means less demonic-looking cats. Bounce walls can be expensive, but David Hobby of Strobist made this DIY version that uses a wire hanger, some ...

News: Run USB through phone lines

One of the many reasons Circuit City should go out of business is their sale of ridiculously expensive cables, wire and cords. The secret to the industry of Monster Cables is that it is unnecessary and ineffective. Gold-plated or otherwise, Monster's $100 cables are not intrinsically better than the cheaper versions they're stocked next to. Don't believe us?

Xbox LIVE Achievement: How to Earn Free Microsoft Points with Social Engineering

Sometimes, paying for the whole Xbox LIVE service might seem like a waste of money. You're constantly experiencing lag, you've got people modding and cheating, kids are being loud and obnoxious over the mic, and your kill-to-death ratio is getting dumped on. Basically, the whole multiplayer experience just isn't cutting it anymore—you want to go back to the classic world of single player. Well, there's always downloadable content—simply known as DLC.

News: A Quick Homage to Our Benefactor

Without Richard Channing Garfield the world would be a much grayer and less interesting place today, at least for all of us. He created Magic in college, playtested it throughout, accidentally found a publisher for it, and wound up the the most well-known and successful paper game designer in the world (sorry Guygax, make something new why don't ya?). He does not seek the limelight, has not had a snappy biography written about him (or his game, amazingly enough) and I thought we should pay a ...

How To: Keep Your Fitted Caps Fresh

This tutorial is for all fitted fanatics like me out there. I’ve been wearing fitted caps and snapbacks since I was in elementary school, and it has become a part of who I am. However, I also know that fitted caps and snapbacks are expensive, especially those from brand name companies such as New Era. That is why it is important to me to make sure that my hats remain wearable and stylish as long as possible. The following are some steps I take to make sure that my hats don’t become too dirty,...

How To: Make an Easy Dog Pull Toy

Pull ToyI love dogs, but the toys can get really expensive. This is an easy to make, inexpensive way to make a toy that really works. My dog loves it! The materials you will need is an old dish towel and a pair of scissors.

How To: Take care of leather hiking boots

Wade Bourne of MyOutdoorTV.com shows you how important it is to take care of leather hiking boots. Leather boots are expensive, and they should be treated like an investment. This means giving them proper care to extend their life and receive the greatest use and value for your dollars spent. Here are tips on how to care for leather boots to extend their useful service.

How To: Replace damaged asphalt shingles

Your home’s roof is the first line of defense in keeping the elements out. A common problem among both new and old roofs alike is damaged shingles. Wind, falling tree limbs, or just normal wear and tear can damage shingles. It is critical to replace damaged shingles to prevent more expensive damage from occurring.

News: Is Your Dream Gaming PC Worth It?

The last week has been a trying one for me. On Sunday, there were four computers in my office, three of which were broken. The fourth was not really a computer, but more of a collection of parts that were cobbled together for the purpose of constructing a PC that would sneer derisively at the mere mention of turning down any game's ambient occlusion settings.

News: Sound Advice

Last week I talked about the video / image side of things, and as promised here is the audio side. Sound is integral to all studio productions, but for most student and low budget production, it's the last thing filmmakers seem to think about, and one of the most noticeable problems with low budget stuff. Sound IS half the experience, and yet it is usually all but forgotten come production.