Photographic Expedition

We went to Bronx Botanical Garden. Admission is free between 10 to 12 PM on a Saturday. We left home around 11:20 AM. I got my photographic gear ready. My all charged up battery, my D70, 80~200 mm, 18~70mm .... When I was on the highway, it dawned on me that I might have left my CF card at home. And sure enough after I parked the car, I checked on my D70 and my worse fear came true, it did say Empty on the D70 and I did not have a spare card in my camera bag.

US Open 2008

Andy Roddick celebrated his 26th birthday by smashing his racket in the Ashe Stadium. Ernests Gulbis turned 20 years old and frustrated the hell out of Roddick. There is going to be one winner and someone is not going to have a happy birthday at the end of the match.

After letting Gulbis take the first set, Roddick played hard and crushed a racket to win the second set. Now Roddick is gaining momentum getting into the third set leading three games to none.

.... live blogging to be continued. Or not.

In the end, Roddick prevailed. Both guys played on their birthday even Gulbis lost but he should be proud and have a happy birthday, he put up a good fight with the 2003 US Open Champion. Roddick is in good shape and you never know. I won't count him out yet.

US Open 2008

US Open 2008

Andy Roddick with his smoking serves won the first round against Frenchman Santoro in straight sets. A perfect 10 performance. Santoro seemed to take offense by the serves especially the second last serve that went to his body and sort of embarrassed him in front of the crowd. During match point he pretty much just stood there and refused to get ready to return the serve and just let Andy serve out the match. The crowd kept asking Andy to serve 150 and I don't think he ever did. It topped out at 130.

US Open 2008

Big Mama Lindsay Daveport won in straight set.

Breakfast At McDonald's

Shot using a Nikon D70 mounted with a 24mm manual focus lens with screwed on metal Nikon lens hood. I am big with lens hood. I need to get one for my 80~200, I think it's a very effective way to eliminate haze, err, I actually meant glare, and let the contrast comes out.

Mooncake For Sale

This is a one yolk white lotus seed paste mooncake from one of the premier manufacturer: Hong Kong Wing Wah Mooncake located in Yuen Long, Hong Kong.

The package has this to say, "Founded in 1950 Wing Wah pioneered to adopt White Lotus Seed Paste as mooncake fillings. The heavenly flavoured and fine textured mooncake soon won world recognition and became market leader in Hong Kong, overseas and Mainland market. Wing Wah is also widely regarded as top quality brand name of Hong Kong."

The mooncake is sealed with a packet of "oxygen absorbent" inside and refrigerated since August 2007. I received as a gift. Single owner. The mooncake looks excellent and in pristine condition, no molds or weird growing stuff on the outside. Though I don't think Wingwah suggests to eat one after one year of manufacture. Will sell as-is.

One Day Sale and Local Pick Up Only.

Nikon D90

Nikon introduced its D90. The camera supports GPS and D Movie. The movie part is really impressive and it certainly answers the perennial wife's husband's question, why your $2000 camera can't take movie. As opposed to her his very capable $150 Canon G3 bought 20 years ago. Finally Nikon provided D90 that can take 12MP still as well as some high definition video. This is perhaps a god send to the press and paparazzi.

More from dpreview.com

PJ, Donald Miralle alleging Canon gear malfunctioned during Olympics .... via dpreview.

UPDATE 8/28/08
The every man's reviewer David Pogue is getting on the case of the Nikon D90. Pogue has been pretty influential and now with his overwhelmingly positive review on D90, Nikon the brand and the model is going to have an even better 2008. I fully expect the D90 to do well in the market place. The video review is right here.

US Open 2008

Roger Federer cruised through the first round with a straight 3-set win over Gonzalez. Federer's personal assistant, some woman called Anna Wintour, big shades and all, was seated behind Federer's girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec.

Federer's hair seems longer than usual, mainly the back.

R Fed was obviously pleased with his first round performance. No problem signing a thousand tennis balls after the match and gave some ear to ear smiles during the post game interview.

I hope there is a big rematch between Federer and Nadal in this US Open.

Democratic National Convention

Hillary Rodham Clinton: No way, no how, no McCain.

Too bad, no Clinton either.

Clinton got the audience all fired up. Chelsea looks tremendous. Bill looks old but still good. Obama got the whole Clinton clan on his back.

How Do Kids Put On Pants

It's back to school shopping time ...

Their preferred way or only way know how is to just use brute force to pull up or take off the pants, never unzipped or unbuttoned.

With that in mind, kids prefer to wear only loose jeans or just sweat pants like a big baby. Well some adults big babies prefer sweat pants too.

No matter how many times I say you are supposed to unbutton and unzip to put on or take off, nobody listens.

(perhaps more appropriately called How My Kids Put On Pants)

US Open 2008

Jankovic is adding glitter to the US Open. Perhaps inspired by all the Olympics pint sized gymnasts, mostly Chinese if I remember correctly, Janvokic was seen with glittery hair during her first round win against 16-year old Vandeweghe in the opening night of the US Open.

Miscellaneous Whining: DVDs From Library

Let me interrupt our regular programming for a moment. Why the many DVDs from the library have to be scratched and unwatchable whether in part or in whole? From my handling of any DVD, you take it from its jacket you put it into the tray and you play. Why on earth it wound get scratched so bad is really beyond me.

Let's get back to our regular program ... which is, never mind.

Mini Movie Review

Captivity directed by Roland Joffe. I was looking for some good horror and good depraved characters. And this movie just failed miserably. And I thought Roland Joffe is some big name director, woo hoo, the movie sucks hard on every possible way. The movie just looks terrible. It's clumsy and boring. And the director doesn't even compensate with some good t&a like any bad I mean good budget horror movie does. So this is indeed very very very bad in a bad way. In this horror flick, the only victim is the paid audience who lost both time and money. I lost only my time as I borrowed from the library, woo hoo.

Panerai, Rambo's gear of choice.

Rambo. I am telling you. Stallone still has it. I really like it's no-holds-barred violence. It's not some PG-13 chicken shit stuff. It's depraved violence, the kind that shocks you and scares you. Right in the very beginning, it showed some raw war savaged footage which you definitely can't see on TV or in newspapers anymore even though the carnage still goes on in the real world. Unlike other movies that tend to beautify and purify the violence, Stallone doesn't go that route. He just goes all the way to shock and awe in a pretty honest gory way, Hollywood style of course. Hey if you like violence, this is your ticket, and there are blood and even children and women got killed en masse, just like in the real world. It makes you uncomfortable but that is the point. If you can't stand the blood and gore, stay away. The movie is fast moving and Rambo has finally come to terms with his true killing machine self. For children? not a chance unless you want them emotionally scarred for life.

(Yeah, this is a freaking movie review despite a lousy one, I don't cover my hiney by saying it isn't one)

Beijing Olympics

I am getting a bit of Michael Phelps fatigue. I bet if you are a girl you may feel very differently. A la I am a heterosexual guy. But don't get me wrong, I like the guy all right and frankly I don't understand why some people always try to put a bad spin on whatever the guy does. Anyho, he will be forgotten pretty soon and only be remembered every four years or so. But I guess that's pretty cool actually.

The Opening Ceremony was awesome and I think the Closing wasn't bad either, and if anything it wasn't as long but then it could be NBC's own version. Either way I think it was pretty good. I was horrified when I first saw how a bunch of kids, boys and girls got all tarted up with very old fashioned made-up, red lips and rogue and black eyeliner. It was so not Lin Miaoke. But it took me about 30 seconds to get used to or over it. Well maybe this brand of make-up is cutting edge again. The kids were just fine. As to the Chinese pop stars singing, I think I can only recognize three or four of them. Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and Wang Lee-Hom. I was a bit surprised to see Wang there I guess I have no idea how popular he is and how well respected he must be in the Chinese speaking show business circle. Seeing him onstange, I couldn't help but thought about Tang Wei. She is like banned from the Chinese media, for good. And I can't believe that. Then of course, I start to think about censorship, more bullshit censorship and all the Chinese goodies.

US Open 2008

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Seeded 19.

Unless otherwise noted, all "US Open 2008" pictures posted here were shot by me.

US Open 2008

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, seeded number two.

US Open 2008

Zheng Jie practicing tennis ... and whistle blowing. (Zheng is her family name. In traditional Chinese it's 鄭潔). The last one she was airborne hitting the ball.

Some Random Pictures

A little cross dressing. I LOVE the tiara ... very much.

The world's longest crayon ...

Alex is the photographer here. Best picture ever.

I know ghorse is going to say these are snapshots .... What's going on ghorse?

US Open 2008

The number 1 seeded Ana Ivanovic.

It's time for me to shoot some tennis action in my backyard. Pictures taken by me with my trusty rusty Nikon D70. The lens was my super duper Nikkor zoom 80~200 f2.8.

Movie Mini-Review: Death Proof

Why it's a mini-review? Because I can't write, that's why.

I finally caught up with Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. It was one of the double feature when the movie Grindhouse was first released in 2007. The other was Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror which I haven't seen, i.e. I plan to see it. Given the nature of this movie, I saw it in the basement so the kids and the women can't see it.

I saw the DVD version which was labeled as extended and uncut, whatever that means. I bought that when I was shopping for Yu-Gi-Oh cards with my kids. I have a weakness for DVDs, especially when they are marked down, which they always are now, unlike five or six years ago. I think Tarantino was at his effortless best. Great dialogues, great characters, great humor, great actions, great soundtracks and minus a "complicated" storyline. The story is told straight forward, no story told backward or mutliple plot lines interwining a la Pulp Fiction. The soundtrack is great and there is really nothing to complain. I think it's very enjoyable especially if you are into fringe or even depraved characters, I know I am.

Miscellaneous Whining

The most overused, tired expression in Chinese gossip page: 十指緊扣, I got dizzy and feel like to throw up every time I see it. Please stop.

Example from mingpaonews. "Maggie與Ole於8月8日，十指緊扣睇完奧運開幕，日前他 ......"

Project Runway

I don't understand the greasy hair guy can still be around, OKAY, he is called Daniel. He is always a kill joy, always in some kind of crisis, in distress, always defensive. He's just not fun to watch.

He should just be out. This time the challenge was to do a costume for the drag queens. And his creation was totally lack of drama when it called for it. The judges were right to call that on him. And of course, he got defensive.

I was right, Daniel just got sent off by Klum.

Olympics Updates: Urkel Grew Up To Be Robles

Urkel from Wikipedia

Dayron Robles (L) otherwise known fondly as Urkel. Picture from bbc via Google images. All rights belong to their rightful owner(s). Liu Xiang on the right.

Now that Liu Xiang was gone, I will put my focus on Urkel on the 110m hurdles. Urkel used to be the star in Family Matters and now he is all grown up and moved on to Track and Field and called himself Dayron Robles professionally. He wears the same overall, just tighter and sexier, same oversized eyeglasses and added a lot of gold chains just to show off to the world that even heavy blink can't slow him down. That's just bold.

Cooking While Camping

I brought some fruity extra virgin olive oil for salad as well as for sauteing. In retrospect, it wasn't exactly a good choice fro the latter. I believe it has a lower "boiling point" and it gets all smokey pretty fast. It's good for salad but not so good if you want to sauteed. Just plain olive oil is better for cooking.

Cooking utensils. I love my 8 inch cast iron skillet. I adore it. It's heavy, it's tough and it's practically free if you compare other similar skillets say from All-clad. And above all, it gets the job done. I brought mine to camping. Sometimes, I see other campers who bring those girly silly non-stick skillets with plastic handle. I say trash them. They are really good for nothing. The plastic handle is going to melt, the non-stick coating is going to wear out. Plus food got burnt much easier on those flimsy skillets. I can't imagine putting one of those plastic handle skillet on a camp fire to cook anything. Sure, over a gas stove it would work, somewhat.

Camping, Again

My avid readers would have noticed that I have gone camping twice in less than a month, mind you I am not even a park ranger. The first one was a bit of a warm-up, we stayed in a neighborhood park for one night just so we are ready for this BIG one Summer Camp 2008.

You my dear readers must have thought that, hey, you must be an outdoor type because you like camping so much. Wrong, the reason is one word. Economy. Or rather the bad economy. Instead of staying in some 5-star hotel, I stayed in a $50 a night camp ground. Or even cheaper.

top:
Me and Alex. I like to wear my white 501 jeans. I like to wear them for a week, so they look all dirty then I wear them to camping, with all the grass stain and whatnot. I like my white jeans dirty, super dirty.
Like so many respectable New Yorkers, Alex has a propensity to wear black, already. (I totally made it up, he couldn't care less.)
Smokey Joe. Featured here was my black Smokey Joe, loaded with food. To control the temperature, you need to control the vents. There are four holes at the bottom of the kettle, and by turning the valve, you control the openings and the air intake to the kettle and hence the fire. The fire from the charcoal can indeed goes pretty fierce by simply controlling the vent. If you want to put the doom shaped cover on and want to keep the fire going strong, you should really open up the vents both at the bottom and on the lid. The draft would fan the fire big time. One of the big mistakes for beginners, other than forgetting to bring the charcoal, is they close the vent at the bottom and the vent on the lid. Without air or oxygen intake, I don't care how much lighter fluid you put on the charcoal or worse on your food, there wouldn't be any fire.
I have great success with my grilled chicken with balsamic vinegar and rosemary. I just read the title of the recipe and I made up everything. Hey, it's just cooking not rocket science. I got the boneless chicken thighs a day at Trader Joe's before the trip and marinated them overnight. It was full of flavor. Too busy grilling and eating, no pictures.

middle
In my book, this is the only right way to start a charcoal fire. No lighter fluid needed, and the food would taste even better. I am usually not into accessories, but I found a chimney indispensable when it comes to starting the fire. There is a perforated metal partition inside the chimney and underneath you can stick two sheets of crumpled newspaper, preferably the New York Times, front page and business section will do. Then pour charcoal briquettes into the chimney. It only takes three or five minutes to get the charcoal in total fire, wait till there is no more smoke, then pour charcoal into the grill and you are ready to barbecue. I found it very efficient.

bottom
Camp ground with power and water hook-up. Very convenient. Harry is charging his hand-held so he can check out the Olympics and gives occasional orders to the office drones.

Phelps Makes History

Only Olympian in history ever wins eight Gold medals.

Breaking: Phelps Got It Done

Phelps ties Spitz, got 7 Golds, broke a dozen records and along the way broke some man down. His latest victim was Milorad Cavic who was leading in the 100 meter butterfly until the last 1,000,000th of a second. For some reason, Phelps just touched the wall before him. Cavic's coach lodged a complaint but a review of the high speed film of the race did show Phelps touched the wall before Cavic. Phelps keeps the Gold. Spitz describes Phelps performance epic.

The Olympics Whistle Blower

Who is the whistle blower? When I first read the piece about chubby face and crooked teeth (words Chen didn't utter in the radio interview, but were used by the press to describe Yang Peiyi, via ESWN), the name Chen Qigang sounded familiar, I knew I must have read it somewhere before.... Chen Qigang is a Chinese-Frenchman who lives in France since 1984 and naturalized in 1992. I can only guess why he said what he said during the radio interview. Maybe he thinks it's no big deal, or maybe in his conscience, he thinks he owes the world the truth or he thinks he should give credit to Yang Peiyi, it seems the right thing to do. Who knows? Maybe five or ten years later in his autobiography he will tell his Beijing Olympics story to the world. .... Note, I just watched the video one more time, Chen is all grim faced when recounting the whole scenario behind the performance. It pains him to do what he did, seems that way to me.

Olympics Update

Finally I found a channel that's not Michael Phelps and Michael Phelps all the time (or Beach Volleyball). No matter how many medals Phelps got, nobody really cares, not the Chinese not the big wigs on Madison Avenue. The Chinese channel on 581 finally provides some alternative or relief.

I got to watch the more nerdy sports like table tennis, badminton or the not so nerdy like Judo. I am waiting for Yo-Yo to be an Olympics sport. I would be so happy.

Now it's volleyball, it's number 10 Tyra Bank serving for the USA. Go Tyra go. Tyra Bank is also known as Kimberly Glass professionally. OKAY, Tyra beat the Chinese. Thanks to Jenny.

Olympics Update

China baby girls beat American women gymnasts by 0.0001 points.

Michael Phelps continues to dominate at the Water Cube and NBC's live broadcast, shattering world records along the way.

News from the future: The whole opening ceremony is now revealed to be one big computer generated special effect, it's the biggest hoax since US moon landing in 1969. And Li Ning was NOT, I repeat, NOT actually walking on air when he lighted up the Summer Olympics BBQ.

UPDATE (as if anybody cares...) Nobody in his right mind would expect Li Ning actually walk on air to light up the Summer Olympics BBQ fire because that would be humanly impossible. But everyone in his right mind would expect the voice he hears is from the girl that is moving her mouth. There is no if or but, it's just wrong, period, end of discussion.

UPDATE:

Yang Peiyi
Personally I think she is cute enough
(picture from foolsmountain via eswn)

Random Pictures

I was going to say random excellence but modesty prevents me from saying that.

Crass Commercialism ...

Olympics, other than scandals, controversies and sure Michael Phelps, is all about crass commercialism. And there is no better way to say it than a Ralph Lauren blazer for the US Olympics Team, seen here as worn by basketball great Kobe Bryant.


Of course, crass commercialism is still better than say wearing a test feminine napkin alike tracksuit as demonstrated here by team Australia. Let's pour some blue liquid to see how absorbent the napkin is ... not too bad, mate, the liquid is trapped beneath the chest and we are safe from the neck up ... So it's a go. Apparently, Eric Wilson of The New York Times likes it. He goes on to say the design is inspired by Prada's 2007 collection. (Note: I think I actually read it some where about this feminine napkin thing)

All pictures from the New York Times.

China Pulled A Milli Vanilli In Opening

Image from telegraph.com.uk. Photo: Getty/AFP

China apparently pulled a Milli Vanilli in the Opening Ceremony. 9-year old cutie pie Lin Miaoke, above left, became instant sweet heart of the nation and a sensation around the world when she performed "Hymn to the Motherland." Well she might be actually singing, but the voice heard around the world was actually provided by Yang Peiyi who seemingly has a voice that can sing to the world but a face that's better kept unseen, of course, arbitrarily decided by some omni powerful big wig from the China Politburo.

Well, there you have it. Lie committed in the best interest of our beloved nation. The way to hell is paved with good intention.

Now for fuck sake, let the 7-year old Yang sing at the closing ceremony. Oh, never mind, it's reported that both girls were happy with the arrangement. So there is really no outrage ... except maybe we feel a bit cheated. But I guess I should have known better. This is a land that gives us fake Louis Vuitton, toothpaste, medicine and what have you.

Further reading from The New York Times.

Portrait of Mr. Harry

Alley Pond Park Camping

Racial Insensitivity: Olympics Proportion

I will sure show you some arrested development before showing you some arresting performance

This is reported from the Guardian and sighted on various sports blogs. It's disturbing to see that the photograph can be taken and run as an advertisement for a courier company and finally got the OKAY to appear in some best-selling newspaper. I guess there is simply no political correctness in Spain. Or people are just gleefully insensitive to racial stereotyping.

Hailstorm

Breaking: Hailstorm is pounding NYC. It's very inauspicious.

Lezak Saved The Day And Shredded Records

Jason Lezak, three-time Olympian beat the French by 1/800 second, or whatever, to win the 4x100 men's freestyle relay. The team was trailing the Australian, then the French right from the get-go and how Lezak, the last leg of the relay did it was just beyond me, of course, I don't know dickson about swimming. But what's important is he did it, for himself, for his country, for the Olympics, for the sports, for the human race and in some way for Phelps so his dream for 8 Olympic Gold can still be alive. Bernard, The French man who swam ahead of Lezak except for the last nano nano second cried a pool of tears at the Water Cube. No such luck for America's Katie Hoff who was in some odd way like the French beaten by Lezak, lost her Gold just by a touch of fingers to England's Rebecca Adlington.

This is the freaking Olympic, to be the best you can be, to give it all out. For those who don't like it, there is always Project Runway.

YouTube Love Songs

There are no songs like love songs except maudlin love songs. The more tear jerking the better. So here we go.





Personally I think the MTV don't do justice to the songs. I prefer a pure audio experience to the songs.

Wall Climbing

Olympics

I like Omega better and I am glad Omega is the official sponsor of the Olympics, actually why I am glad I don't know it's not like I can afford to wear an Omega. It's the only wrist watch that's good enough to land on the moon. Just like if you want some free Hasselblad, you can find some twelve bodies left on the moon.

I wonder if any photographers are shooting Hasselblad in the Olympics. I guess mostly Canon and Nikon.

I Heart Olympics

Say whatever you want, I heart the Olympics. The opening was mesmerizing, I was psyched. I mean what's not to like? You can't see any human rights violation? Or any cops beating up journalists. Can you? The communists are known to be cheesy but seriously the Opening was anything but cheesy. I am not a big fan of Zhang's Heroes, I thought it was cheesy .... But he did an excellent job in creating the look and feel of the ceremony minus the cheesiness. Yeah, at times, I thought I was watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon live, and Yuen Wo Ping's Wire Fu and that was a complement. The thing was just grand and cinematic. And mind you intimidating given the sheer number of people and the ingenious choreography, basically a show of force, a fuck you to all the naysayers, if you will.

The Opening Ceremony was a success if you disagree you are simply wrong.

WTF Is White Balance?

According to Destination Armchair Photography or dpreview.com, my bad, actually a consumer survey by Reevoo.com as reported by dpreview.com that more than a quarter of Britons don't know how to properly use their cameras and never bother to read the manuels. I think that's about right. For my brand of shooting, all I need to know is actually just f-stop and shutter speed. The rest of the parameters are there just to confuse me.

Olympics Delay Cast From NBC

I think this is the first Olympics in high definition. And I can attest that the broadcast is really good.

The opening ceremony is mesmerizing. OKAY, more commercials ....

The cheerleading women welcoming the athletes entering the stadium are WHITE HOT as in white baseball cap, white tank top, white skirt, white go go boots, and red neck scarf with matching red holster belt for a water bottle. I am dying to drink from one or two or three or four of those bottles. I am thirsty.

The opening ceremony has been stunning. OKAY, more delegations streaming into the stadium ....

The US delegation is marching into the stadium. The US Olympians are clad in Ralph Lauren. The jacket is three-buttoned. Why three? I always think two is better and the jacket could be a bit more fitted. I like the guy's shirt. The collar is just the right size, a bit on the small side, maybe a bit Thom Brownish in my mind, but that's about it. The pants are long and roomy. Nothing much not to like, overall the outfit is smart. Bush woke up, put on his jacket once again. Rose up with Laura and waved to the delegation.

Kobe Bryant, seen taking pictures with other athletes. Mr Bryant's style is buttoning up two buttons of his three-button jacket, shockingly the bottom two. That could very well be a fashion faux pas. (OKAY, I went back in time in my DVR to double check, it's true) The rule of thumb is you either button the middle one, like James Blake does, or the top two. Whatever, I am just nitpicking, some loser got nothing better to do.

Random Picture

Breaking: Edwards Male Perfidy Used As O'lamepics Counter Programming

ABC News, in a bid to counter NBC's O'lamepics Opening Ceremony delay-no-more cast, is having John Edwards to admit male perfidy and sanctimony to Americans today on Nightline.

Edwards denied daughter is his.

Previously, the affair was reported by serious tabloid par excellance The National Enquirer last October. The MSM has been silent about it until now, when they need to have programming to counter NBC's 2 million hours of delay cast Olympics programming.

News from the future, like 9 months later:
Edwards admits child is his to ABC News.

NBC's O'lamepics

NBC paid gazillion dollars to have some exclusive rights to broadcast the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Now they aren't even going to live broadcast the opening ceremony. That's just lame, very lame.

Random Thoughts

Two Original Calpico $2 x 2
A Dozen Beard's Papa Original Cream Puffs $21
Kids' Smile priceless.

Olympics

More Olympics (pseudo) controversies ...
Hannibal Lector US Olympic cyclists were spotted wearing masks in the Beijing airport and on board of the aircraft. So where's the outrage? They just want to play Hannibal Lector.

This is not gay Olympics so quit saying this is a "coming-out" party for China already.

Chinese police continues to beat up journalists on sight. Two Japanese journalists were roughed up by the police in the midst of reporting the terrorist attack in Xinjiang that left 16 police dead .... With this beat-up journalist on sight policy going on, I feel much safer reporting the event three thousand miles away, at the comfort of my home.

China is poking some holes on its firewall, at least briefly, so foreign journalists can enjoy all the porn and anti-reactionary websites they used to enjoy just like when they were at home. But I doubt one can see the tank man. Again, like CTGZ or Chang Ting Gong Zi, (what a name, I wish I have gotten it first), or other angry or not so angry youth from the New Yorker article, they can always bypass the Great Firewall of China by using some proxy server when browsing banned websites.

Chinese volleyball living legend Lang Ping is coaching the US volleyball Olympic team. And she has an English name Jenny.

Dragon Boat Race

This weekend was all about walking past the underpass.
Harry always likes to moon me whenever I point the camera at him. He has absolutely no faith in my brand of picture taking.
OKAY, we called it a day.

The obligatory dragon boat shot. I saw a lot of big guns. Sort of. But I know unless you have some 400mm otherwise forget about it. My 80~200 wasn't long enough for any conventional shot. On the otherhand if you are into fine art photography then anything kind of goes. I did shoot a few frames using my Yashica Mat. I could only hope something nice would come out. I didn't bother shoot with my D70 and 80~200 combination except for a few frames, just to show we were there.