How To Wash Dishes

and other bs ...
Do you leave the faucet water running? Basically yes.
Do you fill up the sink? No.
Do you use hot water? Sometimes. Hot water tend to cut down the grease factor faster and you can use less detergent.
Pet Peeve? Excess oil on dishes aren't wiped off first. Same with a spatula after spreading butter or peanut butter. Soaking them in the water doesn't help one bit, it actually makes a bigger mess. I like to wipe them off using some kitchen towel, if I can find a slightly used towel, even better.
Do you wash the bottom ... of a pan? Yes.
Do you use soap to clean cast iron? Yes, only the left-over soap on the sponge after cleaning other dishes. This is when hot or warm water helps.
Do you have a dishwasher? No.
Do you wear gloves and what size? Yes, the yellow ones, large.
Stainless or porcelain sink? White "porcelain" I think.
Delta or Moen? Moen then a very simple Delta. It's my impression that Delta actually last longer though Moen says it's for life. Just my experience.

Raining

Mini Movie Review

Taken (2008) on DVD
One very typical movie: the slut got killed and the virgin was saved. The End. Niam Neeson plays a retired government operative/superdad who cracked a Paris-based Albanian human trafficking ring single-handedly. The hand to hand combat scenes are good. But overall actions are just agreeable. There is no joy or fair as the story unfolds. Neeson is a good actor but some how his performance seems a bit constrained. Judging from the reviews I thought it would be better.

The Olympus EP-1 Backlash

Now the negative reviews keep piling in. New York Times columnist and Mac enthusiast David Pogue gives yet another less than stellar review of the latest Olympus Pen. It's gonna hurt.

UPDATE: 7/30/09
Dante Stella
Theonlinephotographer
dpreview
David Pogue

Nikon Nikon Nikon

Holy Moly. Nikon introduces a plethora of new and improved products. A two-pronged simultaneous attack on both the entry level and professional market. Almost all of them are pre-announced by a myriad of rumor sites months before they are official. So there aren't really any real surprises. No we don't need any surprise just rock solid Nikon performance and reliability (I think and hope I am part of the We as my Nikon is still a lowly D70 I bought like ages ago ...).

Nikon D300s, modest but sensible upgrade from D300. I want this. If you want to send me one, please go ahead.
Nikon D3000, new kid on the block.
Nikon AF-S 70-200 F2.8G ED VR II, an upgrade for a neat monster that hopefully will set new standard for the 70-200 zoom range in both DX and FX shooting. I want this too. If you want to send me one, please go ahead.
Nikon AF-S DX 18-200 ED VR II, an upgrade for an all-around lens for DX shooters.

Details of the wares can by found via the usual suspects.

My Book Shelves ... Finally

Most people like to show (off) their book collection, I am kind of late to the party, but finally here they are, a small collection of mine. Impressed? I am. Just don't ask me what I have, I really have no idea, they just kind of sit there like I have never read them.

Pigeons

Random Thought

After shooting the Canon SD880 IS for two weeks, the F5 now really feels like a pig.

The Bespectacled Alex

Harry, Alex and Gundam

Note: I hope I got the name right, Gundam. I am not a real fan of this whole "anime" genre. For me it was just cartoon that I watched in the afternoon when I was a kid.

Alex And Harry Drink Taiwan

News From Tokyo

tokyocamerastyle promises to take pictures of the camera's accessory, that is, its owner when possible. That's got to be interesting. No wonder he is compared to the sartorialist, only he is of analogue cameras. Initial pictures show promises. But either way I am a fan. I can't afford most of the cameras shown there but looking at them is fun too.

Everybody Is ...

Everybody is whoring now, from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

This whoring thing is once again confirmed by The Gray Lady in a piece on today entitled Young Japanese Women Vie for a Once-Scorned Job by Hiroko Tabuchi. Whoring is hardly anything new, what's worth reporting perhaps is it has become more and more acceptable and openly prevalent. Many young girls have no qualms admitting that they aspire to be a hostess or a "model" when they grow up. This recessionomy only tends to exasperate the situation as one of the interviewees, Atsushi Miura, an expert on the issue says, and I quote:

“Some people still say hostesses are wasting their life away. But rather than criticizing them, Japan should create more jobs for young women.”

So as long as the economy is still in the doldrums, we will be seeing more of hostesses or pseudo-models in the future. Whoo hoo.

Hong Kong Boobfair 2009

This is yet another update from my mole embedded in the 2009 Boobfair:

It is never fair in this world. It was official. The Chrissie books were sold out. I tried to buy a copy for you as a b-day present (the idea is actually I keep it till September). But I just couldn't. Many teenage boys who were late to the book fair were obviously sad, while many teenage girls were indignant despite the fact that their dress code has largely followed that of the psudo-models[sic]. They are showing more of their legs, arms, shoulders, cleavage and the northern hemispheres of their breasts. It is just giving what the market wants. China is in an upward trajectory. The CCP says that things have never been this great since the Tang Dynasty and we all know where the neckline was at that time. Little wonder I bot[sic] less books this year.

Editor's note: Anybody can criticize those pseudo-models but from some certain C-list starlets who basically peddle their wares in similar fashion except more clinging onto the pretense and pretext of healthy sexuality done in tasteful manner, is just like the pot calling the kettle black. The "contrived indignation and phony moralizing" is just sickening.

Pan The Pen

Dante Stella declares the Olympus EP-1 an epic failure, with a question mark appended, I think just for being polite.

Alex Sees Taiwan

I suggest everybody should have his eyeglasses done in Taiwan, at least the one we went to. It's a mom and pop operation, see the family room and the playpen in the back? And with the machines I saw I have no doubt everything is done on premise and next day service kind of proves that. I have a pair done there as well. It's $1,000 Taiwan dollar (~USD30.478), for a pair of lenses. I love my Shuron Freeway and Sidewinder, I mail ordered them in the States and have the lenses done in HK and Taiwan. Taiwan is the cheapest and on a par if not better than the ones done in HK. I am happy with the ones done in HK, it's just that Taiwan offers a very good price. Actually I regret not to have everything done in Taiwan knowing what I know now. Oh well sometimes things work and sometimes things don't.

Harry Eats Taiwan

Harry doesn't like noodles. There is no way he would like the taste of cilantro. He ate some nonetheless. He's very fastidious, both him, his brother and his Dad too .... I personally like the flavor and the portion.

Taiwan 2009

Harry is having his hair cut in a mom and pop hair stylist shop right after his brother got his.

Mini Movie Reviews

CX provides quite a lot of choices for us captive audience above the sky as far as on board entertainment is concerned. This time around the seat is not exactly wider or provides more leg room for us Economy flyers but it has better designs; it has wide screen, power outlet, and above anything, a non moving recline design that only moves the seat forward without tilting the back to inconvenience the passenger sitting behind you. A design that prevents Economy travelers pretending to be in Business class at other's expense. So that's some great new designs there. I believe there might even be free wi-fi actually on board. I was able to pick up some signal from some seemingly onboard ESSIDs called "US Airways Free WiFi" and "Free Internet Access." Both are peer-to-peer with weak signals and no DNS. I was able to connect intermittently but no browsing. I wonder if I know the exact IP would I be able to browse. Anyway, here are the mini onboard entertainment reviews.

Onboard Movie Mini Reviews
Gran Torino (2008)
It shows Eastwood still got it both as a director and an actor. Eastwood plays a newly widowed bigot who are greatly disillusioned with lives and finally comes to accept his Hmong neighbor after some pulled pork and whatever Asian cuisine his neighbor offered. It comes to a sad but not totally unexpected ending as old Eastwood goes one on many with the neighboring thugs in the final show down. In one movie, Eastwood takes on race, bigotry, religion, immigration, aging, and hence dying with great fair and success.

親密 (2008) or Claustrophobia
I thought it was a horror movie just looking at the English title, Claustrohpobia. The Chinese title is vastly different though they are related in the sense that one can certainly lead to another. Apparently, due to their long hours at work in a cramped remote office and the long car ride together after work (work is practically slavery in corporate HK I suppose), the characters kind of fall for each other even the guy is married with a young daughter and the wife is expecting. Cheng Ekin provides his ever reliable wooden performance as Tom the office manager whom Lam Kar Yan as office lady Pearl somehow falls in love with, rather involuntarily, naturally and somewhat inexplicably. This is writer director Ivy Ho's ambitious directorial debut, a non-drama drama that trys to elevate the everyday mundane into something arty farty. This feature shows flashes of brilliance in story telling and directorial talents which are a breath of fresh air to and a great departure from your usual Hong Kong movie-scape. A promising debut indeed.

賭神 (1989) or God of Gamblers
Director Wong Jin shall make no apology in making this movie totally silly and thoroughly entertaining without any self-effacing irony. An earnest attempt to just being funny. The actings and actions are grossly and excessively over done. Just the costume of the 80s is entertaining enough, both Andy Lau and Joey Wang have jeans that practically go up to their chests. Chow Yun Fat was more enjoyable before he became all that serious and internationally acclaimed.

The Reader (2008)
How do you humanize a Nazi SS prison guard and make her sympathetic? You cast Kate Winslet to play the leading role of this female cougar Hanna Schmitz who preys on a teenage boy for sex and for reading her books. Schmitz didn't learn to read or write until when she was in prison for the war crime that she did off camera before the beginning of the movie. Winslet gives a solid performance and so is David Kross who plays the young Michael Berg, Hanna's love or sex interest. Ralph Fiennes plays the middle aged Berg and looks kind of constipated throughout the movie, perhaps that's what's required of the role. As an aside, I am pleasantly surprised numerous nude scenes are preserved, I mean CX is a British company so I guess they are not afraid of nudity like we Americans do.

Watchmen (2009)
One word. Unwatchable.

如果。愛 (2005) Perhaps Love
This is not part of the onboard movie I saw. Rather a DVD I saw at home.
This movie is about a tragic love triangle among a director, an actor and an actress. It's a musical and yet a movie. Never mind, it's all about showcasing how good looking 金城武 Takeshi Kaneshiro is, his eyes, nose and above anything else his hair. And his penchant for swimming with his pajama and night gown on in the middle of the night in slow motion. That's pretty much about it. The movie is a high value production with a very contrived love story that really amounts to nothing much. (update: the sheer mention of the name Takeshi Kaneshiro has drawn search traffic no wonder people hire him to appear in movies, though my visitors have to be disappointed as there aren't much information and hardly any pictures of Takeshi Kaneshiro here at all.)

7/29 UPDATED FROM COMMENT RESPONSE TO EXILE
Duplicity (2009)
I forgot to mention Duplicity. I had high hope for the movie because of Bourne Identity and Michael Clayton. But this one is just bad or I was too tired. I don't know if I bother to watch it again just so I am sure it's not all that bad. It got some serious coverage from The New Yorker. But it is bad. It's like what was going on, the plot line is unnecessarily convoluted and uninteresting and in the end I just couldn't care less about what's going on.

The International (2009)
Also, International. Another feature starring Clive Owen. The guy looks good in trench, well he has to be. This one, at least you got more actions as the story progresses. The gun battle in New York Guggenheim is just as ridiculous as anything you find in a Hong Kong action movie a la John Woo. But at least it's pretty entertaining.

Hong Kong Random Eats

Thank you guys

Only one girl showed up from the old days. The rest were too heart broken and stricken to come. I can understand.

I naturally protect myself whenever I sit next to Denise Dennis. Even when he is with a beautiful woman now, I don't feel all that safe.[editor's note: thanks Sid for pointing out the Denise thing, slip of the finger]

This was certainly not random. Thank you for making the arrangement, ghorse and all for making it a pleasant evening, dear friends. We have known each other for so long, hopefully there are more to come every so often. Take care friends.

Hong Kong Boobfair

Here is an update ...

The Hong Kong Boobfair continues to blossom under the punishing sun of the summer. While necklines plunge, sales rise. Books from the models are flying off the shelf at an unprecedented rate that can make any bona fide writer cringe and green with envy.

Reportedly, more teenagers and understandably certain uncles, are having seizures from prolonged exposure of the boobs and one handed reading ....

More updates follow.

Related blogpost.

Also Love in 2-D by Lisa Katayama on today's New York Times Magazine.

Home Is Where There Is Cheap Haircut

Here I am, shamelessly taking a snapshot using the Canon SD880 IS. Look mom, there is no viewfinder, I am composing using the gigantic 3" LCD shooting in 16:9 anamorphic cinemascope (I really don't know what I am talking about).

Traveling Economy

Traveling some 15 hours in Economy Class.

A Room With A View

News From The Far Side

My mole from HK is giving me the "latest" scoop on what's happening in the bookfair, an event I sadly miss ... Here is the report as guest blogged by my anonymous friend from the far side:-

Let me give you more on the on-going psudo-model[sic] show at the book fair. Yesterday, or the day before, whatever, Chrissie tried licking icecream in front of the cameras. Somehow, she couldn't control her tongue and the icecream was all over her body. The crowd, mostly teenage boys, went wild. Meanwhile her 'books' were flying off at the rate of 8000 copies a day. To put things in perspective, they couldn't sell 80 books about Roman History in the history of selling Roman History books in the local book fairs. There were also reports that many teenage boys, having gone to the book fair, came back home and then their parents found them locked up in their room for up to 10 hours[editor's note: most certainly spoof generated by the bros from hkgolden, but there is no doubt things of this nature actually happened]. It was not just boys. There was one 'uncle' I know of, who having visited the book fair, gone on a plane and locked himself up in a hotel room in a European capital for hours. Who knows what he is doing there?

There you have it. This pseudo-model event promises it won't end until it sucks dry every teenager's or certain uncle's man juice.

Hong Kong Random Eats

We decided to chill out in this European sounding American ice-cream parlor, Haagan-Dazs, in TST near the Star Ferry. I carried my MSI Wind with me just in case I can get some free wi-fi. Mostly I used it to suck out the jpegs from the camera's HCSD card. Yes, I got nothing better to do.

Hong Kong Random Eats

This is a chain store located in the sub terrain area of a TST shopping mall. The food, decor and service are all decent. It's not one of those top notched places or one of those small gems with plenty of characters. But it's good enough and decent enough for general consumption. If you need to impress and wow somebody this is not the place.

The State of The Internet In Some HK Hotel

With that many words, I don't think it's that easy ...

I need reading glasses to read the fine prints. The whole thing is written in fine prints.

Honestly I am pretty happy with the hotel. But honestly there are always something I don't like, like how come I am not a millionaire or a billionaire so I can stay in the Peninsula.

My only gripe is there is no wi-fi in the room, but that's really irrelevant as I can live with a RJ-45 connection. It's just that they need to charge you for the connection. I feel like I am Royally screwed (Stay in Royal, and be Royally Screwed, that's the slogan?) wherever and whenever a hotel charges for Internet connection. It's almost as bad as getting charged $25 for a bottle of Watson's water in the fridge. I think I really need to learn how to hack any wi-fi network.

Laundry Price List

This hotel only provides self-laundry service for their long term staying guests. Looking at the price list I figure I better off buying new underwear than letting them clean mine. Or better still, handwash them in the tub, go commando or simply just sun dry clean them in the balcony.

What to pack when traveling in HK in the summer ...
If you are a minimalist, all you need is really your passport and a stack of bank and credit cards, you can buy practically anything in Hong Kong, usually at a good price (except used camera equipments).
If you don't plan to buy any T-shirts or intimate wears when in HK, then I think you really should pack accordingly because there is no getting around changing your clothes as you will be soaked and drowned in your own sweats. So pack for daily changes at a minimum.

Hong Kong is a more powerful city, it uses some 240V and the power outlet has a different configuration from here in the US. Normally your portable electronics device can take 110 to 240V, so you don't really need a transformer except an adapter to allow you to plug it into the socket. But do check the input voltage. Case in point, someone plugged in a device that only takes 110V into the 240V outlet and the device went up in smoke and the suite fire alarm went off and the hotel burned to the ground .... Personally I can't wear jeans and long pants when I am in Hong Kong. I was able to do so once upon a time but not anymore.

Deja vu Laundry

I did a load of laundry yesterday and hung them on a clothesline outside. Unfortunately it got all rained up while I was enjoying an afternoon snap nap. I didn't bother to collect them back until this morning. So I redid the load just like yesterday except with minimum spin cycles and only a touch of detergent and hung them out again.

As if you really need to know.

Hong Kong

I thought they only made this in the ad. So I was surprised they actually made this M art drawing in production. I am a bit embarrassed as I don't think cappuccino is really a drink that associates with me, it's like the Pina Colada of coffee. Normally I just order coffee or espresso. Cappuccino with latte art seems too childish. Anyway, I was there for the Internet connection. Now I forgot if it's really 30 minutes or 20 minutes or 22.35 minutes of free connection.

Hong Kong

My old friends are treating me for dinner. One of them has the Nikkor 50mm f1.2 and a FM2/T. It just reflects how old he is. The guy is retired, living off his meager retirement fund and needs opening doors at shopping malls and carrying ball bags and racquets for others, an overaged ball boys if you will, to make ends meet. I warn my kids to study hard not to be like him. He is holding on his Nikons though as David Chan had told him film gears' values are holding up and appreciating nicely. What baloney.

Thank you guys for a nice dinner.

Omaha Steak

Omaha Steak given by a kind neighbor of mine. What a nice guy. Any person who just gives out free steak automatically becomes my best friend.

No, this picture has nothing to do with the recent trip I made. I just feel like to post it on the blog. Well crusted on the outside and pink on the inside.




For those of you who wonder why my kids look frail and tiny, wonder no more. Because I only feed them with white rice. Look at the table, it is devoid of dishes and practically empty.

A Room With A View

Alex: This is what my Dad gives me for breakfast. A slice of nutritious white bread. why does he have to be so cheap?

Hong Kong

Harry: I wish I was anywhere but here. Why Daddy has to be so cheap?
Photo taken in a Hong Kong styled tea restaurant in Tsuen Wan.

Hong Kong

This shot was taken in a Hong Kong Japanese tea/drink/noodle house kind of outfit near Champagne Court. My brother was the one behind the camera. My head is so heavy it needs all the support from my hand.

Random Musings

People love lists or simply I can't write in complete sentences and paragraphs ...

• I was going to scam one of my old friends to sell his good old Nikkor 50mm f1.2 lens. He may be old and senile but he smelled something rotten. So there was no deal.
• I was hoping I could snatch some nice used camera equipments in Hong Kong. Alas, Hong Kong got expensive and there was no way I would shop for used equipments in Hong Kong. The price is just insane. The desire to own yet another film camera seems to be fading.
• Some friends I missed. But that's OKAY we'll meet some day.
• I was hoping to visit maybe at least one fancy restaurant like I did two years ago but it didn't work out. I was just busy plus the weather was simply demoralizing.
• I brought a pair of Weejun slip-ons but never got the chance to wear them.
• I brought two pairs of jeans but never got the chance to wear them. Only on the occasion that I flew to Taiwan did I wear my jeans. It was just too darned hot. I remember I used to wear jeans in Hong Kong in the summer, now it's like How the hell did I do that? It's like impossible. I wore cargo shorts and a jacket onboard for their unlimited supples of pockets.
• When aircraft touches down and taxiing in the tarmac, people or some people invariably remove their seat-belts and busy opening the overhead cabins for their oversized carryons while the seat-belt sign is still on, purposely causing a commotion when none is warranted. Usually my fervent wish at that moment is the aircraft would make some sudden sharp jerks to throw them off their feet and the carryons fall on those people not on innocent passengers whose biggest crime is to be with those asshole passengers. I think that will teach them a lesson. Too bad that never happens. Plus, they also like to whip out their cellphones and yelp right away. Now I do wish the the air staff would confiscate every single one of those cell phones like they are authorized and supposed to do. Just throw those passengers together with their cellphones off the plane.

Olympus

This is the Olympus EP-1 a la Tokyo Camera Style shot. I bumped into this guy (this guy is also known as my brother) in Champagne court and he had this latest toy with him. I was able to scam him to take a few shots of the camera and even funner shot the EP-1 myself. The camera does indeed feel substantial and heavy when compared to the SD880 IS I was carrying at the moment. My first impression was the auto focus doesn't seem to be swift or decisive when shooting in available light indoors in the seedy shopping arcade.

Gate 8

Gate 8 kind of sucks compared to other gates. It's dark and is tucked away in a subterrain area from all the main gates. Though it doesn't seem to make sense it's subterrain but it certainly feels that way. A very different area from the otherwise airy and spacious airport.

I have really no complaint to the Hong Kong Airport. It has plenty of bathrooms, not that I really need to use all of them. They are clean and all. The wi-fi is strong and coverage is good. The only minus is given that's it's an international airport, it doesn't support the kind of plug that US uses. So the charging station wouldn't work if you don't have an adapter. But I guess if you are a professional traveler you are better prepared and equipped than me.

Bye Bye Hong Kong and Taiwan

Here is me waiting for my flight back to the Big Apple. Just came back from the smoking room fetching a can of Coca-Cola. I entered the smoking room twice, once thinking that it would take paper money, wrong, the next time with two $5 coins. A can of Coca-Cola costs $10 here. I don't know why the vending machine is hiding inside a hideous smoking room near gate 43. Now I guess I smell like a Marlboro man. The scary picture was taken with the MSI netbook webcam. For a while I thought I was out of camera as my SD880 is still in Taiwan in the capable hands of my wife.

I would like to thank everybody who have made this trip a great success. You know who you are.

No Bargains Here

Guys there are no bargains here. Look elsewhere.

If you insist or like window shopping like I do, you can check out the half dozen shops specialized in old used film cameras, antique or junk you decide, there on the ground floor of Champagne Court, 16 Kimberley Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Pilgrimage

Old cameras don't die they just sit on David Chan's selves and waiting to be picked up by yet another gullible amateur who somehow is obsessed with everything that's old and chrome. My pilgrimage had been pretty disappointing largely due to my own ignorance. I thought they would be of superb quality yet priced even lower than similar items found in eBay because they are in Hong Kong or simply I thought so. Superb quality is probably a yes but cheap is definitely not true. The items are priced like at least twice as much as what you would ordinarily find on eBay, and usually much much more. Granted you have the chance and joy to actually pick up the item and examine it yourself and that's something you can't do via eBay. This experience somehow totally ruined my obsession with old cameras. I lost at least temporarily all my desires to pick up any old used film camera. Thank you David Chan.

Star Ferry

It took forever to get the picture uploaded. Yet another minor masterpiece (yes, it sounds oxymoron but that's OKAY) from yours truly. The two things I don't like about the SD880 IS is that you can't set the aperture or the shutter speed, and there is no aperture priority auto. It would be nice to provide a square format as well. Other than those I think the SD880 is pretty solid.

Hong Kong

It's my experience and impression that it's almost impossible to find a hotel room that can comfortably accommodate a family of four. Two a resounding yes; three still good, but four, forget about it, you have to ask for extra cot or something. In New York or about, I can easily find a cheap hotel with two full-sized beds or even queen-sized beds. In Hong Kong, forget about it. The bed is just tiny. Even the "suite" we stayed in has two rooms but one only got a twin sized bed and other is a full-sized bed that can sleeps two ... barely. We have to open up the couch in the living room. So much so for a "suite." One night, the little one actually slept on the extra large extra spacious window sill in the smaller room. The suite does have a balcony I guess that somehow adds allure to the suite.

Notice that it's only my experience, if you are loaded I am sure you can find any size hotel suite with any size beds in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

The Internet is melting down under the punishing sun here and so am I. My online experience hasn't been all that positive. First my hotel insists Internet connection is not an utility like water or electricity and hence I have to pay extra for it. Since I am a cheapskate so I refused to pay anything extra for the connection. I did end up paying $25 for a little bottle of Waton's water in the fridge. There was no wi-fi in the the room or actually the "suite" that we stayed in, it has to be a RJ-45 tethered connection, I guess that isn't all that bad, it's more reliable than wi-fi. For wi-fi, I have to haul my netbook to the lobby. I did see the connection but alas it needs to log in and a password. So I gave up. And I can see the importance of hacking skills in the face of such online roadblock created by the tyranny that's the Hong Kong hotel. The only free wi-fi I enjoyed during my stay in Hong Kong was the 30-min from a McDonald's in TST. Again, it's important to know how to hack to bypass this 30-min arbitrary limitation.

Oops, the picture can't get loaded into blogger. The picture still can't get loaded. OKAY, I gave up for now.

Tsimshatsui

Who Is That White Haired Dude

The captions shall purposely ignore non-essential persons and hangers-on.

The British simply don't care about Ralph Lauren despite the fact that the dude has been dressing the ball boys with ridiculously oversized pony emblem polo shirts for the tournament like two years in a row. Poor Ralph. Well they don't seem to care Mr. Allen's wife either. They seem to like the gladiator though.

UPDATE 7/27/09
I found out yesterday, one title and both captions were all updated with full mention of Mr. Allen's wife Soon-Yi Previn and Mr. Lauren.

Trip

July 6 - July 13, HK
July 13 - July 22, Taiwan

Wimbledon 2009

Live Blogging from the England Club ... as seen on TV from the living room.

Andy Roddick is out Federering Federer on Centre Court, hitting the kind of passing shots that Federer hits except better. Roddick is flashing strokes of genious just like when he ousted Murray a couple of days ago.

Wimbledon jetted Pete Sampras and his wife to witness history in the making. In some way it's like saying Federer is going to get his 15th Slam title. I wonder how that makes Roddick feel.

It's still early in the game and nobody should make the mistake of writing anybody off at this stage especially it's Federer that we are talking about.

Roddick's wife, Brooklyn Decker is once again donning a pair of Ray Ban aviator. She probably looks good in any shades but her style of choice is a pair of aviator, a frame that never really goes out of style. Any purveyors of style would come to it, it's just a timeless piece. Decker, instead of weakening the dude's legs, is largely credited for Roddick's resurgence.

Roddick took the first set at 7-5.

Federer took the second set. Inexplicably Roddick hit a few loose balls during the tie break and Federer leveled the game.

Now back to square one.

This is really a test for Roddick. Can he rebound, regroup and fight from scratch after losing a set. A true test of tenacity more on Roddick than on Federer.

******

Roddick lost Wimbledon but he still has Brooklyn

It's over now. Federer won the match. Roddick lost. Bottom line is Roddick lost to a superior player. His comeback was spoiled but at the same time he probably should feel proud about the whole ordeal, nobody would have guessed he would be going to a Slam final let alone facing Federer in the Wimbledon final and beating Murray on his way. He has some time to rest up and regroup and prepare for the US Open, the last Grand Slam event of the year. This should be Roddick's surface. A man that can hit a 140 mph ball, you would have thought he could easily hit more aces than Federer and win the last set. Alas, there's something wrong with his ball placement I suppose. If Roddick continues to let his game speak for himself--keep his mouth shut, and stay focused and work on his game, he stands a good chance in the US Open final.

E-P 1 In The Wild

Seems like everybody has caught some sort of serious compact camera bug. I should say there is always some group of extremely well-off people who prefer compact cameras to manly man gigantic SLRs with oversized lenses. The Olympus pen is emblematic and a continuation of this serious(ly expensive) digital compact camera trend represented by the Leica M8, D-Lux 4, Panicsonic LX-3, Sigma DP-1, DP-2, and Ricoh GR Digital II, Epson R-D1s. The Olympus E-P1 attracted tons of attention from serious amateurs and arm-chair photographers alike. Tokyocamerastyle has a couple of pictures showing the pen in the wild as carried by a woman. Oh well, the camera does look like a girly camera. But I don't think I would have any qualm wearing and using one. I would get one of those original half frame pen.

Wimbledon 2009

Live Blogging from the England Club ... err more like from the couch in front of the TV.

Mens Semi Finals

Haas vs Federer

31 year old Tommy is squaring off with Federer on Centre Court.

Federer took the first set. Haas didn't just give it away he forced Federer to go to tie break.

Haas just hit a few forehands into the net not enough top spins I surmise. Federer is playing well like you would expect from him. Federer is dictating his service game. Just impeccable.

Federer is dominating, taking the first two sets. Haas has no answer to Federer's Swiss army knife kind of plays.

Haas is frustrated while Federer is as cool as ever.

Federer finished off Haas with a flying smashed down hit. Federer really played a flawless match.

Roddick vs Murray
Each one got one set, and Roddick is leading the third set with 4 games to 2. Murray received a warning from the chair umpire for uttering an audible obscenity.
Both players are playing well. But I will give the edge to A Rod for his power serve and seemingly stronger mental stance. The body language of Murray at times seem not as positive as he should be. The last time a British won the Championship was Fred Perry in 1936.

The crowd is very appreciative for the two Andys.

Andy Roddick got the job done. It's just unbelievable for Roddick to pull this off. We have an all American women's final and we have an American in the men's final. What a way to celebrate the Independence Day on July Fourth. Once again, the British are disappointed again.

Haircut

I decided to clean up myself before I go home, to see my mom. The haircut I usually get from Flushing hasn't been all that satisfactory. It isn't exactly bad either as with a face like myself I simply can't have a bad hair cut--feel free to throw up on your keyboard. I avoid going to any salon with stylists I just need somebody to cut my hair with skills and patience and doesn't remind me how awful my hair is and I need to do highlight or a perm or other nonsense.

I checked out one on 10 Doyers Street. Don't let the name "beauty salon" fool you or embarrass you. It's just a barbershop perhaps with some service for women, but it's a barbershop no less. Once I saw a couple of old guys cutting hair for even older men I felt safe to go inside. The gent who cut my hair is in his 60s, speaks a mix of Shanghainese, Mandarin and Cantonese as I would expect from such an establishment. The shop is kind of shabby and around the shop are similar establishments which are equally seedy or if you prefer they have certain unadorned simplicities and old world charms. The barber cut my unruly mane short with a few different shears, a clipper and finished it off with a deadly vintage Henkel straight razor. The barber sat me on a plastic stool in front of a sink next to a bathroom, shampooed my hair just like how I remember it from way back. Since I just shaved with a straight razor in the morning, rare but true, so I declined the shave offered. He finished the whole experience with a blowdry prefaced with some oily hair product and finished with a fire breathing dryer that guaranteed my hair stays put for the rest of my life as god intended.

The whole deal was a cool $9. Any guy should be proud to have a cheap and good haircut. If you are anal and care a lot about cleanliness and personal hygiene then perhaps Hip Kee is not for you, but for $9 I am all for it.

Wimbledon 2009

The old men are still hanging around.

Tommy Haas, the oldest player around, at 31 is going to the semi-finals facing one of tennis great Roger Federer. Haas was good enough to beat Djokovic in the quarter finals. People are again questioning Djokovic's physical condition. Is the guy fit to play? Is he a quitter? Can he play in rough conditions? So far the guy hasn't proved himself to be a tough player. At times he could be funny and likable but sometimes he just turns spiteful and when that happens the fans are turning their backs against him quicker that he likes.

Roddick looks more matured and he always has something interesting to say off court. "We're just a couple of old married dudes." That's how Roddick describes himself and Hewitt whom he defeated on his way to the semi meeting another Andy, Andy Murray, Britain's only hope to win in like 1000 years, the championship. Andy was mostly quiet and his on the court persona seemed more matured. But old habits really die hard. At some point against Hewitt, he was arguing about a line call with the chair umpire. The line person was summoned. I don't like it at all. It's just distracting. He should just stay focused and played the match. Marriage and a new coach are helping Roddick.

The news just got in. We are going to have yet another Williams sisters final. BORING. I think they totally earned and deserved it. No other players can play as consistent as the sisters. Venus spent less than 51 minutes to dispatch Safina, the number one that has yet to win a slam title. Safina, what can I say? It was painful to watch her play the French final this year. The girl just gone bonkers and kept looking up for her coach for acceptance and guidance. It was awful to see her broken down like that in a Grand Slam event.

Got to go now...

MSI Wind

I got my MSI Wind U100 432US yesterday. It comes with Windows XP Home edition, the installation or rather the configuration was painless. And it didn't take that long either, 5 or 10 minutes top. The Wifi works flawlessly and it hasn't dropped on me once yet. The F11 function key toggles the browser to full screen by eliminating the menu and address bar, I find it useful espeically on this 10 inch netbook, though this F11 function are present in all of my computers I seldom use it until now. I inserted my 8GB SDHC card into the slot and it reads OKAY. I was able to switch between user accounts with no problem. The keyboard is a bit tight but I read it's one of the best in its class already, oh well. The comma, period and slash are smaller than usual. So when I meant to have the period I ended up hitting the slash. I normally type pretty fast. And except MSN and MS Mediaplayer, there is almost no junk ware on the desktop, it's very clean.

Windows 7

Are you 7 enough to have Windows 7? A dear friend of mine points out that 7 is not a good name. If you speak Cantonese you probably know what I mean. I never thuoght about it as I am no longer (or have I ever) as sensitive to the language as I used to be. I think that's a very valid and interesting point. I think the Cantonese speaking communities are going to have plenty of fun with this Windows 7 OS. Wow, you are so seven. My friend vouches to get a Mac if he were to get a new computer. I totally understand his sentiment. For me, if I were to get a desktop, I probably want to build one myself. For notebook, yes, it's gonna be a MacBook pro kind of a deal. Anyway, too many to buy. I understand there is some big push of Windows 7 on the corporate side, at least when compared to Vista. MS consulting shops are decending on companies to help conduct readiness studies. Look like they are going to really push the OS down the corporate environment. At the same time, most software vendors don't really have a solid plan or a statement one way or the other as far as compatibility goes. But my limited experience and knowledge is the apps seem to work just fine in Windows 7 if they have been working fine in XP. Of course, this is totally anecdotal.