The Market Is Safe

Between now and Thursday, the stock market will be safe. Because after losing some $1.2 trillion dollar on Monday, Congress needs to take a couple of days off .... So the market is safe from more meddling and intervention. Let the market work its magic. It's on auto-pilot now. Just imagine a 747 careening and trying to land in the midst of a hail storm while the traffic controllers at the control tower are taking a nap or two days off. That's what we are having now.

I am taking a day off too. Because $1.2 trillion loss is not going to stop me from taking my day off. Ha ha.

Black Monday

Your money continues to burn. The Dow closes down more than 777 points.

The Most Popular Video

This is probably one of the most popular video right now, well in my book at least. This is pretty high production.

Reverie, as shot by Vincent Laforet, using the Canon 5D MarkII. See behind the scenes video in his blog. The onlinephotographer isn't all that impressed with Mr. Laforet's videography and hope he sticks with stills.

UPDATE:
With all these easy HD video, man, there got to be a corresponding upgrade in computer power to handle all these HD video. Firewire 800. A lot of RAM. It's just exciting. I used to think that maybe I will get a HD camcorder to full yet another aspiration of a videographer. Now with high end DSLR building in HD video, I guess I don't even need a dedicated HD camcorder for that purpose. I need a more powerful computer with easy HD editing features. And load of cash.

Untitled

Untitled

Nine cheesecakes.

Having take-outs from Outback.

Taekwondo

Campbell Brown Is At It Again

Campbell Brown is calling McCain's campaign sexist when it comes to the media brown out McCain's campaign is imposing on vice-presidential nominee governor Sarah Palin. Brown argues had Palin been a man, McCain's campaign wouldn't be protecting her like a delicate flower. During the UN sessions now under way, Palin is shielded from the press. In one occasion, the press corps were let in for 29 seconds and was escorted out right when Palin and Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan were exchanging some pleasantries. Just like Barbara Walters and her posse of vaginas from The View, apparently Campbell Brown doesn't need to grow a pair to be critical of the McCain campaign.

In another note, grumpy old man David Letterman is piling on the McCain campaign after McCain stood him up yesterday. McCain canceled his appearance on the Late Show and temporarily suspended his campaign in light of the present financial shitstorm happening across the nation or possibly around the world. Letterman wasn't happy and was kind of furious when he learned McCain was actually doing an interview with his colleague Katic Couric the whole time he was supposed to fly back to Washington to save the nation from the financial crisis....

Hasselblad 500 C/M Useless Information

What I found:-

You can't shoot with an empty (pre A12) back attached even both the back and the camera have white dots on their respective windows and the dark slide is removed. It's just the way it is. (I don't know about A12 back as I don't have any to test. Mine is a back that has a peep-hole in the back to check film advance when loading)

To test shoot for fun, you need to remove the film back all together. To remove the film back from the body, you need to have the dark slide inserted. And you cannot remove or attach the film back without the dark slide inserted into the film back.

If your experience is different from mine, please let me know.

UPDATE: 11/14/2009
I think I was pretty good in spreading half truth and rumors.  The above is totally false.  You can shoot with an empty back attached.  I just found out.  The way to do it is to treat it like the back has film inside by turning the knob counter clockwise so the number appears on the frame window.  Once the number goes past 12 you can turn the knob counter clockwise so the 1 appears again and you can continue shooting without any film inside.  And yesterday I found out this old back can actually shoot 220 film, woo hoo.

120 Film

You are not going to get anything truly useful here but here it goes...

Here's what I found so far, the major difference between Fuji PRO 160S and Kodak Portra 160NC.

After finish shooting, for a Kodak roll, you got to lick the end seal to activate the glue to seal roll from un-spooling whereas for Fuji, it provides a self-adhesive end seal to close down the film. Fuji is more hygienic in that regard. If you are into licking, then Kodak is for you. If you are kind of anal about bodily fluid, perhaps Fuji is a better choice.

What Was Microsoft Thinking

I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch some. But I haven't seen the latest Microsoft TV spots. I just wonder how their $300 million ad campaign is doing. On the other hand, I do see plenty of brand advertising spots from financial institutions like Zurich, AXA Equitables to claim consumers' mindshare in the wake of this Wall Street meltdown.

Anyway, the Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates spots were pulled. Most ad pundits couldn't decipher what the ads were all about and hence gartnered mostly lukewarm or worse vitriolic reviews. Microsoft definitely needs a good narrative for its image. And in an attempt to define Microsoft and Windows, Microsoft plays the game that Apple plays so well in its second wave of TV spots. It plays the "I am a PC" narrative pioneered and defined by Apple. So far the counter punching by Microsoft is not succeeding.

Google Android

The first Google phone to be marketed is an HTC phone with both touchscreen and keyboard. But the thing doesn't come with a regular headphone jack so what were they thinking? Why? Anyway, it doesn't really concern me as the phone requires a two year contract from T-Mobile. I like an unfettered relationship with my carrier if at all possible. The New York Times did a feature on HTC and I learned the founder and chairperson is called Cher Wang. I always thought with a name like Cher you don't need a last name.

The Google founder kids went to the product announcement in NYC in rollerblades or inline skates. I guess that's still cool. Any attire that doesn't make them look like some blood sucking capital destroying executives are good.

What Am I Thinking

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In terms of digital cameras, I am about four years behind the current crop of latest DSLRs from either Canon or Nikon. I am still shooting a Nikon D70 not even a D70s with, a 6MP CCD sensor that's as good as it could get about four years ago. And I am about giving up this mega pixel race and full frame cures-all. I think I have mentioned this before, I have pretty much thrown in the towel in terms of getting the latest and greatest mostly because of money. So instead of going forward, I go backward. I am shooting more film now. Actually not just film, but expired 120 roll films. Because of price concern, I only shoot expired films from craigslist. And my latest cameras are a Yashica TLR and a Hasselblad, both of them are so old that you only control four parameters when comes to exposure, mostly two, film type and film speed are set per roll and you are left with aperture and shutter speed. The thing with film is getting the picture to jpeg is a bit time consuming if not a total pain.

Miscellaneous

On the eve of photokina, there are myriads of product announcements from photo related companies. The what were they thinking product may just go to Leica's newest DSLR. In a bid to shock and awe the market place, Leica introduces a DSLR that is like no other, at least sensor wise. It distinguishes itself by using a sensor that is unique in its size, a 30x45 mm 37.5 MP CCD sensor that is 56% larger than the Full Frame size employed by flagship models from both Nikon and Canon. Is it an innovation or a desperate attempt to survive? We will probably find out in a year.

More here.

New Nikkor 50mm f1.4 G Announced

Boring. I was hoping that they would bring out a new 35mm f1.4. I am still shooting with my 50mm f1.4 manual focus (shooting .., as if I am a real photographer.) Or bring out a 50mm f1.2 just for the hell of it. Now that I used 5 more minutes to think about it, actually it kind of makes sense to just make some incremental upgrade to the 50mm prime. Any significant upgrade would probably accompany with a ridiculous price tag.

Modern Dubliners

The most searched words in Ireland are "lonely" and "horny."

$700 Billion Free For All

As an investor, you are fucked by Wall Street, as a taxpayer you are sodomized by the Treasury. Either way, you are screwed.

The Treasury department would use some $700 billion tax money to buy whatever garbage securities created by some fuckers on Wall Street. What had they been doing? The SEC, the Treasury, the freaking federal government?

Breaking: US Nationalize Financial Market

The Land of Capitalism is going to nationalize the whole financial industry. Woo hoo what irony.

The Casino Is Now Rigged ... and other BS

The casino that's called Wall Street is now rigged by the Federal government. It used to be only rigged by big financial institutions. American capitalism is under attack by its own incompetency and knee jerk reactions. The SEC bans short selling.... It's time for the Chinese government to step in and buy up all the failed or failing financial institutions. Wall Street then will be called The China Great Wall Street. I think it might actually be happening as Morgan Stanley is seeking some fund from China to shore up its capital.

German bank KfW transferred $300 million euros to Lehman the same day it declared bankruptcy. There will be resignations and dismissals. At least Europeans over there know what accountability is, over here it just means more bonuses.

Governor Palin prefers Yahoo! e-mails to government e-mails.

Your Money Continues To Burn

Another day, another 1,000 points drop on Wall Street. Your money continues to burn in this financial hell created by the brightest minds on Wall Street. It just shows how fantasy valuation and make believe accounting rule. SOX compliance, independent auditors, federal oversight are all a joke. The CEOs and senior managers continue to do well, for themselves, not for the companies, not for the shareholders, and definitely not for the economy.

Meanwhile Damien Hirst just sold more than 127 million dollars worth of dead animals in formaldehyde through Sotheby's. We live in a strange world in a very strange time.

EOS 5D Mark II

The much anticipated successor to the venerable 5D has finally arrived. Today Canon announced the EOS 5D Mark II, a full frame DSLR that can take full HD video at 1080p and 21 MP pictures. Now the question is: Can the thing focus?

More from dpreview.com.

Street Meltdown

Black Monday just came in time to remind the presidential candidates that though lipstick, pig and lipstick on pig, are mostly fun, it's always about the economy. Let's get back to issues that we care most and affects us most.

I don't know how those executives can run those seemingly unfailing institutions into the ground.

Random Thoughts

What I got from the Palin interview with Charles Gibson:

She doesn't blink much.

She doesn't second guess.

She is on a first name basis with Charles Gibson and keeps calling him Charlie not even Charles.

She is ready to start World War III with Russia? Perhaps so.

The major blunder is she doesn't quite get Bush's pre-emptive strike.

UPDATE

9/12/08

On Hillary Clinton

Obama is regretting (not to have Clinton on the ticket).  She got this right.

Mid Week Chop Suey

After winning eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, there seems like nothing that Golden Boy Michael Phleps can't do.  He appears in Oprah, ringing the opening bell in the NYSE (though not exactly), to guest host SNL this Saturday.  The guy can't do no wrong.

+++++

Governor Sarah Palin has been providing never ending intrigues to the press ever since she was picked as a running mate of Senator McCaine.  Nobody really knows her, not that well, and shockinlgy, neither does McCain.  It was first rumored that her youngest kid was not even hers but the son of her unwed daughter ( and the New York Times went in great lenghth ... not to appear tabloid-like, to feature her secretive pregnancy, how she concealed the pregnancy with scarf and accesories, how the water broke, the whole nine yards.)  The family then issued a statement saying that their teenage daughter is five-month pregnant, keeping the baby and to wed the father of the unborn, though no wedding date was given.  The family was under the media spotlight.  Palin is known to be anti abortion, pro life.  Even Cindy McCain isn't so sure about Palin's strong opposition to abortion which includes victims of rape and incest.  Women's reproductive rights is once again politicized.  Anyhow, it's said that the only reason why McCain picked Governor Palin was precisely because of her conservative leaning on family values and pro-life stance.  Of course, left leaning liberals are quick to point out and argue that her abstinance preaching and no sex education in school somehow fail in her own family...  Once Palin is on the ticket, the McCain campaign ceases to attack Obama's lack of executive experience.  McCain basically retreats and let Palin dictates the tone of his own campaign, and all of a sudden, the Republican presidential campaign is about Change as well.  It's pretty shocking.  The latest Palin fodder is how she claimed reimbursement working from home.  We still haven't heard from Palin directly, answering impromptu questions from the press.  The campaign seems to be preping her and bringing her up to speed.  We just have to wait.

++++++

The biggest news from Apple is Steven Jobs is still alive, forget about the iPod, they are just glorified mp3 players.  Wall Street doesn't react well with the product upgrade, too incremental or whatever, the stock shredded $4 during Jobs presentation.  No upgrade for Apple's notebooks whatsoever.

++++++

Lehman Brothers might go under and the Fed may not be helping this time around.

++++++

Sony A900

Sony is entering the full frame market with its introduction of the long anticipated Sony A900.  The camera sports a full frame sensor with more than 24 MP.  This is Sony's continued effort into the pro segment of DSLR, the domain of Canon and Nikon.  More shockingly, the DSLR is priced at $3,000.  I mean not everybody is going to like the camera but for that price you are going to love it.  And I can see people who basically shoot just landscape in bright sunlight are going to love it.  For the pros who shoot indoor sports who need low noise and fast operations that maybe another story.  At least Sony is giving people an alternative or more, hopefully a driver to bring down the price of Nikon and Canon.

Photographically, we are living in a very interesting time.

More Sony A900 from dpreview.com

US Open 2008

So the Men's final was a bit anti climatic.  After two weeks of great tennis, Murray just didn't have any more left in the tank.  It took serial US Open Champion Roger Federer three sets to collect his fifth US Open trophy.

All right, now all the major sports events I like are over.  I can get back to watch more reality TVs.

US Open 2008

The US Open is so exciting even senile senior citizen like myself begins picking up my tennis racket again.

US Open

Serena Williams is battaling with the number two seeded Jelena Jankovic in the US Open Women's Final.  Williams won the first set, which is a harbinger to win the Championship statistically speaking.

Jankovic's glittery hair, coupled with her flexibility as evidenced by her frequent splits performed on court, might not be enough to outshine Serena's laser ground strokes.... But you never know, really.

Just caught a glimpse of the huge HD broadcast camera in the promenade section, it's a Canon with image stabilization.

UPDATE:

Williams won the Tournament.  She is busy cheering while Jankovic applies some lip gloss before burying her head into a tournament towel, soaking in the sorrow of defeat.  Well, it was definitley one of the more memorable finals in recent years.

Number 1 Nadal Ousted By Murray

No wonder Tim Henman retired last year.  Andy Murray turns out to be the real deal.  In a match that extended two days and four sets, Andy Murray beat number one Nadal and is en route to meet tennis great Roger Federer in the 2008 US Open Final.  Given the level that Murray is playing, I fully expect a spectacular final tomorrow in Flushing.

Nadal turns out to be a very humble and graceful number one both on and off court.  The guy even signed autographs for kids after he lost the semi-final to Murray and before he made his exit to the stadium.

  

Campbell Brown vs. Tucker Bounds

Campbell Brown vs. Tucker Bounds on Monday

Brown won.

The McCain campaign, in retaliation, refused to appear on CNN's Larry King Live.  Then later in the week, Palin belittled the press during the RNC.

US Open 2008

Roddick vs. Djokovic

The question is how many rackets Roddick is going to smash in this match.

Djokovic is going to frustrate Roddick big time by bouncing the ball a 100 times before serving, slowing down the match by calling the trainer maybe two or three or four times.  It's going to be interesting.

UPDATE:

Roddick broke one racket, already after losing the first set.  Nothing is working for Roddick.  Djokovic hasn't called the trainer or bouncing the ball a 100 times yet.

UPDATE:

Roddick is down two sets, won the third set but the fourth set is tied at three games each.  Some in the audience are turning hostile again Djovokic, making noise while the guy is tossing the ball up serving.  That's not nice.

UPDATE:

Roddick got soundly beaten by Djokovic.  During the post match on-court interview Djokovic let everybody know he is not happy with Andy's sarcastic remark about his "16 injuries."  The crowd was totally for Roddick minus maybe a handful.  Roddick was coming back in the beginning of the fourth set and played like he had the fourth set in the pocket and looked what happened.  Instead of digging himself out of a two sets deficit, he dug himself into a fourth set tiebreaker and eventually lost.  Djokovic didn't even bounce the ball excessively nor did he call a trainer.  He won it fair and square.

US Open 2008

The Williams sisters quarterfinal was just awesome.  It's just a bit heart wrenching seeing the sisters killing each other on the court regardless of their multi million dollar status.  Serena and Venus played their best tennis and sometimes they didn't play on this level when they played against each other in the finals.  But this was nothing short of an epic battle.

Coming up next is Nadal and Fish.  And it's past 11 PM already.

Ooops, forgot to mention Serena won in two sets, tie-breaks, running, squeaking, spliting ....

Summer Is Over

All good things must come to an end. Labor Day came and gone and so was Summer 2008. This summer went by pretty fast and had been pretty uneventful by and large and I consider it a good thing. We had record high gas price, like $10 a gallon or something, anyhow, it's mostly around $4 a gallon, and my car has a 21 gallon tank officially but it starts to complain when 15 is gone so to fill up I usually ended up paying $60 or so. That's a lot of money.

We didn't go to have any real "vacation." More like a staycation as some folks put it. A couple of tent campings here and there. But we had fun.

The kids went to summer school and it wasn't all that bad. School began today and it was quite a day.

We saw a few movies.

One night I went to see the US Open. The last time I went was more than ten years ago when Venus Williams was first playing, and Patrick Rafter was still pretty up there. Well Venus is still playing but not Rafter.

Chrome

After reading the arrival of Chrome at the New York Times this morning, I was trying to find out where the download was.  You know, everybody needs a good distraction and what's better than yet another browser from none other than Google.  Now that they did it, it begs the question what taking it so long, it just seems the most natural thing to do.  Alas, the browser wasn't available all morning until now.  I just downloaded and installed Chrome and the process was pretty painless.  Woo hoo, next distraction please.