One of the creepiest and funniest movies I've ever seen is An American Werewolf in London.
Creepy because of the (then) state of the art effects used to morphed the unlucky American student, David Kessler, into a pony sized, Brit munching canine. Director, John Landis, did a masterful job of combining memorable characters with low budget, but effective special effects and ended up with a movie that made your limbs ache with David transformed.
Funny because the dialogue and story were pure entertainment. The conversations with his increasingly gross dead friend and others David gnawed while in wolf form is classic. And it's funny because, well...it just is. It's a horror movie and comedy that strikes and maintains a precarious balance between the two without devolving into formulaic pablum, at least not until the end scene.
Good stuff.
Being able to transform into a creature, either real or imagined, has long be a stable of folklore for many cultures around the world. Heck, I wanted to grow wings and take off. Just thought it'd be cool to do. In my heart of hearts I still do.
Of course, there are transformations that are no less fantastic, even if they are not based in fantasy. I've seen trashed out lots be transformed into urban oasis, dated and neglected houses turned into design masterpieces or completely livable spaces, grime covered nobodies changed into Elle and GQ cover models. In every case someone saw what was there and had the imagination enough to see what it could be. Not everyone has that kind of sight. Fortunately, computers can help, and apps are getting better at transformation all the time. I've got 3 apps to show you that emphasizes that concept. So, without further ado, let's get to them.
Modiface Virtual Makeover [628 MB, all iOS devices iOS 6.0 or later, Maker: Mobage Inc]
When most guys want to improve their appearance they shower, shave, brush hair and teeth, and put on something nice, a suit or nice shirt and pants perhaps. We may finish off with a spritz of cologne then we head for the door.
The energy most women expend to look good daily could power a small town for at least a day. Take the Ritual of Makeup for example. How much a woman follows this ritual varies from woman to woman, but the most intense face paint job can take hours to complete. There's foundation for the different areas of a face, blush, mascara, eye liner, lip liner, rouge, gloss, concealer, highlighter, and on it goes. Each applied in exacting amounts in exacting ways so as to accentuate desired features while hiding the less desirable ones.
Wouldn't it be nice to figure out how you'll look before you apply the first bit of foundation? Enter Modiface Virtual Makeover.
Start with the included model or a selfie
Pull back your hair and take a selfie then get to work transforming the real you into the you you want to be. It's actually kinda fun.
While you can play with it, this app isn't a toy. For those who are serious about their looks and want to see how much difference subtle changes in color, application, and contrasts can make, this app can be a serious money saving tool.
Compare the finished product and find out where to get it
The interface is very easy to use, and the variety of options will astound. Once you're done fiddling you can save the look, but you can also find out what it cost to achieve the look for real.
Modiface Virtual Makeover is an excellent app for those are serious about looking good. The rest of us will enjoy its many features as well. It's free (amazingly) so there's no excuse not to get this app.
Tattoo You [628 MB, all iOS devices iOS 6.0 or later, Maker: Mobage Inc]
I've always wanted a tattoo, but could never decide what to get. For me, a tattoo should make a personal statement about you, so the design you select has to really say something. Remember, it's permanent. Which is why I still don't have a tattoo.
When I finally do decide on a tat I need to then decide where it will go, and that can be just as tough to decide as what to get. Lucky for me and those of you like me who are thinking of permanently painting a portion of your bodies there's an app for that.
Tattoo You let's you take a selfie and use the resulting shot to position possible skin paintings. This is huge. See what your tat will look like on you before you commit! If you're a little shy you can use one of the two models to start.
Included model helps you see how a tat may look on you...or not
The app comes with a very nice selection of tats to choose from, and if you don't see something like what you want you have the option to get more designs for a nominal in-app purchase fee.
Once selected you can size and rotate the tat and position it where ever you want. You can also flip, reverse, and change the tat's color. Grab and paste as many tats as you need, they are applied as layers so one won't affect the other. Unfortunately you can't distort the tat to make fit a body contour, but the results are good enough for you to see how it'll look before you go under the needle.
If you're getting a tattoo, get Tattoo You first.
Blenda Lite [628 MB, all iOS devices iOS 6.0 or later, Maker: Mobage Inc]
Earlier I mention the movie American Werewolf in London and told you how much I enjoyed the scene were David turns into a wolf. I thought it would be nice if I could do the same thing. As you might have guessed, it turns out there's an app for that too.
Blenda won't give you Hollywood quality morphing effects, but it will provide hours of fun as you change yourself and your friends into animated creatures.
Take a photo and frame the face, then make some adjustments to facial feature positions. That's it. The app will blend the face to another face and lets you control how much blending occurs. There's a small, but nice selection of faces to blend to and you can take pix of your pets and create your own. You can also buy more faces and effects via in-app purchase.
Me as a quasi-cat. Cool!
It isn't just blending that Blenda does well, it can also aged you, or make you younger. Go to the Bling area and see how you may look 40 years from now or how you might have looks 20 years ago. This is a very cool app.
Of course you can save the results and share them through the usual outlets. This one is a keeper.
That's a wrap for this week.
Be sure to check out this week's free App of the Week, Bugs 2. It's fun. It's educational. It's two apps in one!
Also grab Jesse Lanza's free single, Keep Moving.