Midtown Oasis

Rambo's Choice of Jeans: Lee

In Rambo II, John Rambo wears Lee jeans, right before he accepts the mission to be a photographer though I can't even see him carrying any photo gears.  Back to the Lee jeans.  It was the genuine type with cross bartacks on the back pockets.  Now in America, they only sell the ugliest Lee Jeans, if it's not ugly, they simply don't sell it.

Need I Say More

 

via:  Tokyocamerastyle.com, sort of the camera's Sartorialist but without the irritating ellipsis abuse.

Thoughts on GS

Here is an email exchange, well not much of an exchange as it's rather lopsided,  I pilfered from some inbox and I would share it with my readers here.

QUOTE
For one thing, I do think the relationship between GS and the government is way too close. This GOVERNMENT SACHS organisation is not good for the country. For another, those guys left holding the can are just dumb. They are not doing their homework. I have to say that the GS guys are just smarter (relatively speaking though) than those stupid [redacted]. GS knows how to play the system. They know how the rating agencies work. Hire the agency executives and make sure all that crap is triple A. Their former senior executives are World Bank president and Treasury secretaries. They are very well connected. Specifically, in that Abacus deal, they just wear too many hats. There are big conflicts of interest. There is nothing wrong in market making. But in the context of a Senate hearing, the GS executive (Daniel Sparks) looked rather bad by prevaricating. It was a photo opp for the senators by slamming the bankers. [redacted]. I know how this company works or for that matter, how Wall Street works. If the company has to unwind their long positions (duds), then the sales have to push all  the crap out. How can Mr Sparks say he is working in the best interest of his clients? All he could say was "trying his best to serve his clients".  In a forum like this, rightly or wrongly, GS would never come out ok. The people's court has made its decision already. As a company, GS was not like this [redacted] in 1994. It has changed for the worse after the IPO. It is going downhill.
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> did you follow the Assault on Goldman Sachs or Capitalism going on on the Senate  I almost feel sorry for the Goldman dudes.  Now all of a sudden those god damn senators care and trying to be self righteous.  Give me a break.  They were all asleep when the thing imploded.  Goldman was the smartest guy amongst the pact.  They probably would have more regulations after this mortgage backed securities bs so the rank and file would suffer more.
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> ----- Original Message ----
UNQUOTE

Jobs Absolute Disdain on Adobe

Jobs goes on record expressing his absolute disdain for Adobe and Adobe's Flash.  It's a great read and a revelation on how Jobs picks his technology, at least on the record.  I have to go check Adobe's stock price now .... down 70 cents while Apple ups more than 2 bucks.

Nikon FE

I finally bought a couple of SR44 batteries for my FE.  What can I say, the more I use the other camera, the more I like my FE.  This couple of batteries probably would last another decade if not longer.  I really don't remember any problem with my FE other than the time I got it wrecked in a car accident with my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.  I was playing with my FE and MD-12 last night.  And again, something I should have been pretty sure but I just don't.  The camera battery is still needed for the meter and shutter (except for B and M90) even you have a fully powered motor drive MD-12 attached.  The FE is just an unbelievably reliable fine piece of engineering triumph.  The meter display makes sense, the shutter makes sense, the double exposure makes sense, the self-timer makes sense, the MD-12 motor drive makes sense.  It just kicks ass now, then and probably forever.

2 Duracell D357H MS76, it's rated 1.5 (or 1.55V according to their technical publication).  I paid $5.99 for each.  I like products or brands that are anal retentive about their technical data and give full support and publication of such data on the Web.  They are installed on 4/28/2010.

Nikon Nikkor 200 - 400 f/4

This thing weighs 118.5 oz. or more than 7 pounds.  You need to get one of this and carry it around to find out how healthy you actually are.  It has an estimated selling price of $6,999.95.  What surprises me most, and you know I am easily surprise-able given how ignorant I am, the thing takes a 52mm filter.  What?  A 52mm filter?  I thought it would take a 72mm filter at the very least (OKAY, it must be some drop-in kind of filter that is not screwed on in the front).  This monster of a lens will be available some time later in May, just don't hold your breadth.

Now all I need is a 18MP Nikon DSLR, that's simple, solidly built, and costs less than $1000 to own.  All I can do is dream on.

PowerPoint: is it so Bad? Yes

A slide that shocks and awes and above anything else epitomizes everything that is wrong with PowerPoint.  PowerPoint slide illustrates different dynamics America faces in Afghanistan.  Source:  The New York Times web site.

Out of no where, the New York Times has a front page, above the fold article about PowerPoint and how the military uses it grudgingly.

I don't use PowerPoint, I don't know PowerPoint but I just have a healthy disdain for people who spend lots of time making PowerPoint slides.  In my mind, it's a colossal waste of time.  One spends so much time fixing the slides instead of attacking the problems that one is supposed to solve.

Am I a Journalist?

Are bloggers journalists?  There are of course ramifications to the answer of this question.  Are journalists more protected or just equally protected for their First Amendment rights?  Can authorities seize Jason Chen's computers by means of a warrant?  Or should it have been a subpoena because he is a blogger and hence a journalist?  We will find out.

And back to the very post title I ask myself.  I guess I am flattering myself by even asking this very question.  The end.

Holy Cow! Police Involved in Lost and Found iPhone Prototype

Police Seize Jason Chen's Computers.

The World is not Enough of Avatard

The DVD, Blu-ray, VHS. Betamax and HD-DVD, OKAY, not the HD-DVD, are flying off the shelf.  James Cameron's Avatar epic cartoon is making news once again on DVD and Blu-ray sales.  I am sure it would make record again when the 3D Blu-ray comes out some time later during Christmas.

They are the Same

... Yet they are all different.

What to do Riding up an Elevator

How to avoid awkward social contact and pleasantry exchange when riding up an elevator with fellow co workers in the morning.

 Blackberry or handheld obsessed:-

• Even you are two minutes away from your desktop, you can't wait to whip out your Blackberry pretending to be reading and replying emails, showing off your thumb typing skills.
• Listen to your music and make sure the volume is high enough to broadcast your good music taste.
• Twitter update.

For those without handheld device as a prop:-

• Pretend you are looking for something in your bag.
• Pretend to be reading the New York Times.
• Pretend to be reading the Wall Street Journal.
• Pretend to be reading some top ten novel.  Don't read it on a iPad or a Kindle, because they are a conversation piece.  It's conversation you want to avoid.
• Pretend to be reading some self help books (if you want to look like a loser, go ahead, any five simple ways, or the last self help book would broadcast yourself as a loser.  Even if you read it on an iPad or a Kindle, you are still a loser, just a well to do loser).

For those without any props or bags:-

• Keep looking at the buttons.
• Keep looking at your own nose.
• Alternate between looking at the buttons and your nose

 Have a nice ride everybody.

Left Hand Grip Cameras

I never understood the need of a left hand grip camera until now.  I should have gotten any one of those Pentax 6x7 or Mamiya Press Universal cameras.  They all have nice left hand grips.  It's not too late to get one, or two, I guess.  I need the Mamiya Universal, with Polaroid back, 6x7, 6x9 backs and all the lenses out there, and of course, the left hand pistol grip with shutter release.  Perfect setup.

Iceland, What Good Are You?

As if the world has not suffered enough because of Bjork, now Iceland is giving us Eyjafjallajokull.  When Eyjafjallajokull farts everybody is grounded.  I think the EU should start fining Iceland for exporting Bjork and now volcanic ashes.

Apple Hits $250

I told you so.  Back in December 2009, I already predicted Apple's stock price would hit over $250 in mid year.  And here it is, not even mid-year.  The stock is at $258.  OKAY, I am going to be a day trader from here on now.  See you guys.

Gizmodo Did Get the Next Gen iPhone

Gizmodo is on fire.  Tech gossip, rumor and fun site Gizmodo scored big when it got its hand on the next iPhone prototype.  See it for yourself at their site.  The latest being Apple actually sent a letter to Gizmodo to claim back the lost iPhone prototype, confirming that it is indeed an Apple property not any knock-off iPhony from China or the like.  Above anything else, Gizmodo seems to be pleading with Apple not to fire the engineer, Gray Powell who supposedly lost the super secret phone on his birthday after much partying and German beers.  I think that was very thoughtful and kind of Gizmodo.

Kick-Ass Did Kick Ass

Last week's box office number one spot was so contentious that the result couldn't be finalized until Monday.  Or people are just so bad at math that they couldn't count right the first time.  Anyway, Kick-Ass is somehow vindicated.  The fake superhero picture headlined by Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz claimed the much coveted number one spot at its weekend debut knocking off the much beloved 3D How to Train Your Dragon movie which briefly was believed to be the number one movie for the past weekend.
I like the movie.  It stands on its own pretty well.  It embraces the genre and yet at the same time flip it upside down to add a certain freshness to it.  Aaron Johnson delivers a very earnest performance as the title character who apparently takes on more than he can chew as a self appointed masked vigilante.  Chloe Mortez is cut out to be the Hit-Girl, the swagger, the bravado, and her sweet pottymouth all make her pint sized Hit-Girl believable and even lovable.  And despite all the controversy, I don't think she is all that foul mouthed as the trailers made her to be.  Probably her utterance is no natural that I don't even notice anything oddly strange about an 11-year old girl uttering expletives.  With an R rating and pervasive violence, I don't think it's going to do well in the box office but then I think it does have an appreciative audience as I am one of them.

Photography is Not for Girly Man

If you think you are carrying too much equipments on a family trip, you are a girly man.  You shouldn't take up photography to begin with.

Kick-Ass Got Its Ass Kicked

Kick-Ass got its ass kicked by the 3D Dragon movie.  Despite pre-release hype, controversy and positive reviews from fans, the movie failed to monetize its notoriety, only debuted at number two in the weekend box office.  The movie is rated R.

Michael Jackson Oil Painting Got No Bid

This is a follow-up post. Nobody bids early or bids often. Actually nobody bids at all. There is no love for the King. The auction for a painting of the King of Pop has received zero bid from the eBay crowd  I wish the Canon FD or Nikon lenses are like that, instead all these very stupid buyers really bid early and bid often. Please people smart up, don't bid early don't bid often, don't be a jerk jacking up the price.

Take Stock

Incidentally, the upside down Chinese character rightly describes what I have been going through for the last two months.

Light Seal Replacement for Canon New F-1

Though the Canon New F-1 (damn Canon for their stupid naming, couldn't they think after a few years, everything called New is not new anymore) is my latest addition to my ever growing meager camera collection,  I think I just got to know it better than the rest of the members.  I got to see its more naked body more intimately.  I just did a light seal replacement for it.  So it's like brand new now (of course not).  There is not a lot of seal to remove and replace.  One on the hinge, one in the mirror box, and two thin ones running along the camera body where the film door closes onto the body.  I used some 75% rubbing alcohol to remove the dead gummy foam and then replaced them with something I ordered on eBay.  These are cutups specifically made for the Canon New F-1.  So there is no measuring and  minimal cutting.  Overall the instruction is OKAY but it could be better.  But it's really not that complicated.  The foam on the mirror box used to be just barely there now it's pretty well dampened.  So overall I am pretty happy with this $10 purchase.  The price seems a bit high for the little material in the envelop but it works well and it's just the price of a decent lunch, plus the vendor is fast and responsive, so in the end I can't really complain.

Are You a Righty or a Lefty

Unless you have lived under a rock, no Internet access, do not watch TV, or in general a luddite then you might not know who Lin is.  But somehow you have the good fortune to access this, this stupendous blog by me.  And here is my video to you, an interview of Lin.  So, in the end everything boils down to the final question, " ... so until now you are still a virgin?"  All the interviewers care is to make him admit he is a virgin.  Good job.  Why don't they ask him if he is a righty or a lefty when jerking off?  I want to know too.  I think after this, it would be a standard question for all the new up and coming young singers.

Slip of the Press

How the SCMP screwed up so badly flummoxed the most seasoned pundits (except me because I just know everything).  But it certainly screwed up big time, like on the front page, like messing up with the president of the most powerful, most authoritarian country.  Chinese President Hu Jintao was inadvertently turned into Hu Jia, a dissident turned jailbird for subverting state authority or whatever crime the Chinese government says he committed.
Meanwhile the same publication charges its online content, I guess, for journalistic excellency.  If anything, I think the SCMP is morphing itself into The Onion, only less funny but it's a step in the right direction.  Or just trying to be subversive like Hu Jia.
To prevent blunder like this happening again, I offer SCMP two words:  Perry Lam.  As far as I know Lam has been obsessive compulsive in his Chinese to English translation.  I bet he can do English to Chinese just as good.

via duke of aberdeen's tweet  and ESWN

Crazy Summer Movie Preview

Angelina Jolie's out-of-this-world* humongous lips are going to grace the big screen this summer.  Her if-look-could-kill-I-would-be-dead larger-than-life* presence would no doubt kill all the competitions in the box office.  Her Salt character was originally written for a guy, shocking, with Tom Cruise at some point tagged as the leading title character.  Cruise not to be out done, is having his super action flick coming out as well.  He teams up with hottie Cameron Diaz in Knight and Day.  Cruise never ever short changes his fans, you always get more from the guy.  Between Jolie's lips and Cruise/Diaz brand of actions and super hotness, who are you going to pick?  Hmmm ....


*Thanks Snowdrops for pointing them out.  I should have written them properly in the first place.

iPad Saving World Economy

iPad is saving the world economy, that is, in addition to the lice specialists I mentioned several posts earlier.  Even bad news is good news.  International delivery of this shiny newish device is delayed due to strong demand in the US market--Apple says it has shipped more than 500,000 of them and has a large number of pre-orders on its soon to be released 3G versions.  Everybody pretends to hate America or American consumerism, but nothing induces so much worldwide adulation like a good piece of shiny ware designed in Cupertino and manufactured in China by a Taiwanese company.  Apple stock goes up more than $2 on the delivery delay.

Hit-Girl Kicks Ass

If you think Natalie Portman in Leon is bad, Chiaki Kuriyama in Kill Bill is badass, wait till you see Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass.  Chloe Mortez is so bad she is actually good.  Her performance is going to cross all the lines set by her forebears.  She slices and dices like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and shoots two guns like Chow Yun Fat in A Better Tomorrow.  And the most disturbing thing?  She is so pottymouthed  she actually resembles real grade/middle school girls you see on the NYC subway.

My Blog is a Row of Urinals

Having sitemeter is a very humbling experience.  It basically confirms what I've already known for years and I shall not repeat here.  One of the many features sitemeter offers is it tracks how long a visitor stays and the referring URL, if any.  In my case most of the visitors from referrals would stay for so short a time that sitemeter can't even track other than giving me a nonsensical 0:00 time.  I always compare those cases to a mental picture of a woman she thought she was being told where the ladies' room was but once she opened the door, she saw a row of urinals and she quickly left.  Well there are exceptions, ladies who got turned on by seeing a row of urinals when least expected.  But that certainly is in the minority.

Signs Recession Is Over

Families are spending $300 to $500 a head to hire lice specialists to clean up lice infected grade schooler heads.  A lice killing shampoo from CVS costs $6.99.

Apple sells 300,000 iPads on the first day.  A beautiful shiny piece of design with a price tag from $499 to $699 that can potentially elevate your social standing.

You know it is crazy but true when Pulitzer winning New York Times reports it.

My Beloved Canon G3

A meager 4MP camera.

Twitter

One great thing about Twitter is you don't even have to pretend you know how to write in sentences and paragraphs.

Bid Early, Bid Often

Just don't do it.  What it does is it jacks up the price early on, it benefits not the buyer but the seller and eBay.  I don't know why would any bidder in his right mind would do such a thing--bid early bid often.  Please stop doing it.

Diana's Revenge

Below is guest blogged.

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a field trip during March. I saw many wonderful works of art there. One piece of artwork that fascinated me was the tapestry of Diana and Acteon. In my report, I will tell you about this wonderful work of art.

As I said, this tapestry is called Diana and Acteon. The artist that made this piece of artwork was named Jean Jans II. This tapestry was woven in Paris, France at the Altier of Jean Jans the Younger near the Gobelins. The culture that this tapestry described was the Romans.

I chose this work of art because it described a Greek/Roman myth. I think that these myths are cool and interesting because they usually have a god or goddess upset. I’m always eager to find out what happens to the person that messed with the god/goddess. Something that inspired me to pick this tapestry was the Percy Jackson series. The series were based on Greek Mythology and I wanted to find more about the Greek and Roman myths. (I really liked the Percy Jackson books)

This tapestry shows Diana (also known as Artemis, goddess of the hunt) taking a bath in the forest with nymphs. Acteon, the man hidden in the trees was secretly watching Diana. When Diana found out, she was not happy. She turned Acteon into a stag/deer. In the tapestry it shows Acteon with antlers on his head to show he was turning into a deer. Then, Diana had his own hunting dogs kill him. The dogs were probably thinking, boy, this deer is sure dumb. It walked right in front of me. I get a free meal without doing any work! Hmm, huh, there’s something strange going on… hey, where’s Acteon?! Am I seeing things because I see an Acteodeer! But I am going to eat it anyway. I think Diana was a bit too cruel. If I were Diana, I would warn or threaten Acteon first like this “Get out of here or I’ll turn you into your dog’s lunch or something like that.” However, watching someone take a bath is a bit, well, not right, right?

I learned from seeing this piece from the tour that the people from long ago would hang tapestries such as this one as a decoration on the wall. This makes sense because where would you put it, under your couch? Tapestries also help trap heat in the house. Also, I learned to never watch gods or goddesses while they are taking a shower in the forest… if I ever encounter one of them. (Just joking) I also learned that Artemis can be called Diana instead of Artemis.

I hope you learned a lot about Diana and Acteon in my report and had fun reading it. Here’s a picture of Diana and Acteon.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/2497782735/sizes/l/

The Painting We All Have Been Waiting For

With a low starting bid of US$2,750,000.00 and a Buy It Now price of US$5,400,000.00.

Portrait of Michael Jackson

For those Michael Jackson diehards, here is your chance to get a piece of Jackson memorabilia.  AP reports that a one of a kind painting is be auctioned off on eBay with a starting bid of $2.75 million (what a bargain).  I think it probably takes PayPal too?  The painting is not listed as of the writing of this blog post.  Meanwhile on another unrelated news, the murder acquittal Armani ensemble OJ Simpson wore on his infamous double murder trial of the century got donated to Newsuem in Washington DC.  Next time when you are in DC you can check out OJ's lucky suit that got him off the hook.

Annie Lebovitz: Famed Deadbeat Photographer

Lebovitz got sued yet again for money owed.  I don't know how she got into this financial mess, but she sure does.  Most working photographers can't get the kind of money she got, in fact, on average, a photographer makes about $45,000 a year, with wedding photographer making close to $230,000 on the high end of the pay scale and children photographer trails last making less than $20,000 a year [source].  But Annie is not your average photographer, some say her gig at Vanity Fair earns her more than $2 million a year.  Apparently the money she makes is big enough to get her into financial trouble and yet too little to bail herself out.  I think Tim Geithner is her only hope now.

Jefferson Memorial

The cheesy Jefferson Memorial shot during the cherry blossom bloom.

The Meerkat

Tidal Basin

A couple of Navy Seals at work.

A couple of tourists.

C9 Photographer Featured in NYT

A C9 or housewife photographer was featured in the New York Times prompting immediate indignation, mostly from guy photographers.  I remember the article says the photographer is a 40-year old mother of six and one day she took some pictures using a $99 digital camera and posted them on to flickr and the next thing she knew she was contacted by Getty and selling her jpeg's as stock photographs.  A gig that most people professional or otherwise don't have the talent or tenacity to achieve.

One less reason to get out of bed in the morning.

For Photographers, the Image of a Shrinking Path.

Magnolia

Magnolia gleefully flaunting its newly developed blossoms. The lady is not known for subtlety. In a week or so, the branches would be adorned with flames of pink flowers foretelling us the smothering summer ahead.

Lying in Bed

Lying in bed, contemplating the day ahead.  Most of my days are jam packed with me contemplating and busy doing nothing at all.

Canon New F-1

This is part of my ongoing Canon New F-1 usage notes.

Battery:  It's used to power the meter and the shutter.  Though some shutter speed is governed mechanically, whatever that means, but if you were to leave an underpowered battery there, the mechanical shutter won't work.  You have to actually take out the 6V battery from the chamber.  This is actually documented on some online manual.  Not really a surprise.

Even if you attach a fully powered, that's a green light battery power checked AE Motor Drive FN, but if the camera battery 6V is low, the shutter would get very iffy and the meter would go haywire--mainly if turned to Light metering mode, the needle would keep going up or to the right if set at aperture priority as if there are plenty of bright light, giving a reading that's inconsistent with Normal and Hold.  That's my experience.  My 6V battery went low in the middle of a shoot out--metering went haywire and shutter wouldn't fire, so I had to rewind the film back to its cartridge in order to remove the motor drive and change the battery inside the body.  Well that's how the Canon F-1 rolls.  So I think the motor drive, the battery there, is really for winding and rewinding the film, it has nothing to do with the meter and the shutter on the camera.  It's just a guess on my part.

Still, I have no idea what the camera is officially called.  Is there really a Canon F-1N or Canon F-1n at all?  I know there was this original Canon F-1 but I am just not sure anymore if the Canon F-1N or Canon F-1n is the same as Canon New F-1.