Bawang

Most brand names nowadays don't mean anything.  Despite what some people might have told you, Yahoo, Google, Accenture, Altria mean nothing (and therefore everything at the same time).  For names that actually mean something, you better off look east.  Say Bawang, it actually means something like I will kill you if you cross me.  And it certainly lives up to its brand name, and more.  Bravo.

via ESWN.

Nikon D95 in the Offing

UPDATE:  Sorry, nothing original here.  Those industry insiders won't say a thing, not here anyway.

According to Nikon Rumors, the D95 is coming, presumably soon.  It's going to support full HD, i.e. 1080P.  I hope it has a frame rate at 24p and faster so I can shoot faster and play back in slow motion.  Slow motion just makes everything so much better and cooler.  But the two digit models usually can't meter with old AI or AIS lenses.  I guess I will have to live with that.  I know I sounded like I am going to buy one to replace my D70.  My D70's LCD screen is getting smaller and fuzzier as my eyesight is getting worse.

Yes that's how I waste my time online, browsing Nikon rumors.

This is a Buy

I don't bother to read the post but whatever they are selling, it's a buy.  Who cares anything about the i3 ULV chips anyway?

via Engadget.  Picture copyright belongs to its rightful owner(s).

Chinese Waiters Surly by Default

It irks me to no end when I visit Chinese restaurants.  For the most part, the food are fine but the service just leaves something to be desired.  I don't need servitude but a modicum amount of hospitality like Thank You is what I am after.  When I go to Chili's, Applebee's, IHOP, Outback, the wait staff invariably say Thank You when they leave and collect the check.  And when you leave the place for the evening, they will say Good Night.  In all Chinese places I go, big or small, the wait staff don't say nothing.  They put the check down, without saying nothing, when you leave, they don't say nothing.  Even my tip is still at 15% or more regardless.  Chinese hospitality in Asia might be better but Chinese hospitality (to Chinese?) in NYC is definitely the worse.

Jolie's not Worth her Salt

Empirical evidence suggests that Angelina Jolie might not be worth her salt.  She cannot shoot, kick, jump or pout her way to the top of the box office.  Her Salt debuted at number two on this past weekend box office.  Inception remains number one on its second week.  Basically everybody talks about this mind-boggling movie but nobody really understands it.  Perhaps there is nothing to understand anyway.  You razzle-dazzle the movie with special effects and convoluted plot twists to the point nobody knows what the fuck is going on and yet feel intelligent to ponder all those stupid open ended things--think Lost which was a colossal waste of time yet beloved by billions .  Well, good looking stars won't hurt either.  I pity those good looking fine specimens of human beings because their talents are so often overlooked, but I secretly want to be one of them.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

How do you set yourself up for disappointment?  You go to watch a movie adaptation of the original novel.  While all the cool kids go to see Salt and Inception, me, the coolest of them all got myself the DVD version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and saw the entire movie in Sweden with English subtitle.  How cool is that?  Plus I saw it in the sub terrain of our house from an Ubuntu 8.04 LTS box hooked to an HP w2207 at 1680x1050.  I think the DVD with progressive scan is at most capable of delivering 480p only.  So I am cool, as a cucumber.
The fact that the movie is not a Hollywood production means something.  You don't see ridiculously beautiful stars in the leading roles and overly produced sets.  Instead, you got two competent actors who resemble the characters they play.  Salander's character is kind of hard if not impossible to cast.  How can you find somebody who is 24 and looks 14 and also has traits of Asperger syndrome?  Noomi Rapace does a decent job portraying Salander though I think her Salander is bit more social and older than the character in the book.  Michael Nyqvist plays Blomkvist, a women's man in the book.  I think he's right physically but looks a bit too constipated than the role calls for.
 As to the story, it does make certain changes.  But overall, the adaptation is bit too literal and seems interminable.  It tries to squeeze in everything from the book onto the screen.  And in a couple of instances, it even gets ahead of itself hinting at Salander's past which is not supposed to come out until the second book.  The book is more than 600 pages long and I think editing is just crucial for adaptation.  The film runs more than two hours and honestly it's too long for your average audience.  At times it just seems impossible to grasp all the material that's even for somebody who has the benefit of having read the book.  The book is rich in plots, subplots and details and for the movie to even try to put everything in I think it's just too much of a good thing.

The Weatherman Knows What You Feel When Nobody Does

Do you always feel that you are alone and nobody, not even yourself, understands you, let alone know how you feel?  You are not alone.  Fortunately there are the weathermen.  Not only can they tell you what temperature it is now, yesterday and tomorrow.  But they also know what you feel or tell you what to feel when most likely you are incapacitated by the heat.  Despite the thermometer says it's 97F, they can tell you should really feel like it's 102F, or 101.3F or 104.975F with surgical precision and gusto.  The weatherman just knows how you feel even better than yourself.

The Flag

叛諜狂花

Salt is called 叛諜狂花 in Hong Kong. If I were in Hong Kong, I just couldn't bring myself to see the movie. The name is just an embarrassing turn-off. Hey where are you going? To the movies? Which one? 叛諜狂花. Oh? You have to be pretty cool and self-assured to be caught watching a movie with such a name. Though I have to agree the Chinese title does seem oddly appropriate to the main character involved. For the English title, they could have just called it Angelina Jolie and forget about Salt, no offence to the three people with a last name called Salt in South Carolina. Spending a little time on Google, the first part of 叛諜狂花 seems to be taken from the Bourne series as in Matt Damon's Jason Bourne; and the second part is lifted from Thelma & Louise. So the name is like a mashup. I can't wait to see how the movie does in the box office this weekend. In case it flops there is always the overseas market, especially Japan, people are just more forgiving, even for Mel Gibson or any number of aging movie stars. Titanic was such a terrible movie Cameron didn't even get to release it in the States first. Instead Cameron was smart enough to release it in Japan where the audience are just more forgiving (especially if they think the character is good looking) and as far as the Japanese audience was concerned Titanic could just be called Leonardo DiCaprio. Well you know the rest of the story. This is really not a movie review, at most a movie name review.

Trouble in Paradise

For those waiting for the white iPhone 4, hey wait more you deserve it.  It won't be available until later this year.  The second delay since I don't know.  I am sure a lot of Apple fans are cursing delay no more.  The official reason is they don't know how the fuck to manufacture it.  I am sure it's true but I think in addition to this gross incompetence they are just trying to fix the non issue antenna thingy so as to avoid giving out free bumper cases and to protect the brand, or something.

Canon FDn 35mm 28mm F/2.0

I can't see how a Canon FDn 28/35mm f/2 can sell as much as or even more than a Nikon 28/35mm f/2 lens.  There is no way no how.  A Canon FD mount lens is pretty much a dead end which has almost no upward mobility except in the area where adapter is involved for other camera models either for still or video.  Nikon on the other hand can be mounted on almost all the latest and greatest camera models with metering and all.  Plus the Nikon 28/35mm f/2 just looks better and better built than its plastic fantastic Canon counterpart.  I don't have any empirical evidence one is better than the other optically speaking.  Still I would like to get one or two more Canon FD lenses if the price is right.  Right now, I don't think the price is right.  Patience patience patience.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

The is the last installment of Larsson's enormously popular so called Millennium Trilogy.  It was so popular that in my lunch break at Bryant's Park yesterday I saw two other people reading his first and second book within a radius of fifteen feet.  Being in the US and not ready to buy any imported paperback at grossly inflated price, I got my brand spanking new hardcover from eBay, which is a few dollars cheaper than Amazon but just as good if not better.  It arrived at lightning speed with tracking so there is no complaint but praise.  The book is more than 500 pages thick and if anything I think my biceps just got better toned after holding it on the train for a week or so.

The first "Dragon Tattoo" is about serial killings, the second "Played with Fire" is about revenge and this third one  "The Hornet's Nest" is about government conspiracy so big and so horrendous that you just can't believe it, especially of all places, in Sweden where people are just nice and beautiful.  Anyway, the three books all carry a common theme: excessive coffee consumption.  Before reading this trilogy, my feeble mind thought only Americans would be so crude as to drink coffee all the time.  Well I know we have company now.

"The Hornet's Nest," being the last installment brings closure and certain sadness to the trilogy knowing full well that if there is any more sequel or spin-off it won't be from Larsson himself because he passed away before the books were published.  However, there are talks or rumors that there does exist an almost finished novel in his laptop or something to that extent according to an article I read in The New York Times magazine not too long ago--that is if I remember it correctly.  This final installment does tie all the loose ends and gives a very traditional and satisfying ending: the protagonists live while the bad guys either got killed or busted.  Justice is served.  The End.  The only loose end, if there is one, is though there are mentions of Lisbeth's twin sister starting in the second book but she is even more elusive than Lisbeth as a character, till the very end, she is only mentioned but not present.  Perhaps she is meant to appear in subsequent Millennium stories.  Alas, that would never happen, not from the original creator anyway.

Why this could never have happened before 1997?

So here we go again.  Email salvaged from the Internet gutter.  (I wish I could write something intelligent but I simply can't, just to be perfectly clear, I did not write the below)

Maclehose and Wilson were avid hikers. A lot of people could recall bumping into Governor Wilson on the Wilson Trail in the early 90's. The SaiWan village was deliberately left out from the Sai Kung Country Park because of the fact that it was a traditional Chinese fishing village. Including it in the Outlying Zoning plans would have made transfer of properties (for the villagers) difficult. Anyway, who would have thought of buying up an abandoned village? The Tipans[sic] of Jardines and Swires wouldn't do it. That would have made them the pariah in the colonial community. Besides, who wanted to go native amongst the poor villagers (regardless of the height of the outlying walls of the lodge). Last but not least, they understood that the SaiWan village was along the scenic Maclehose trail. Building a villa there would have been frowned upon by the governor. Things were different after the handover, however. That important tacit understanding is gone. Businessmen like Messr Lo lian Cheng saw a loophole in the law, bot[sic] up the land on the cheap (hkd 16 million) and decided to build a personal playground complete with a swimming pool, a mini golf course, a tennis court and a helicopter pad - for the enjoyment of his business associates and their girlfriends. Blaming the Environment Secretary is useless. Or was it a 'landmine' left behind intentionally by the Brits? Or was it one more manifestation of the Chinese peasant DNA? This is a wake up call to protect our Sai Kung!

Apple on Apple

For people who prefer to get their news in the form of cartoon, Apple Daily Taiwan of Nextmedia gives you the no nonsense bit on the latest Apple iPhone 4 blunder.  Ridiculously entertaining.



via 9to5mac.com

iPhone 4 News Latest

Latest:  Jobs is dishing out goodies to solve what the company thinks a non issue or what most others think an antenna issue.  Buyers can get a bumper case, roast pork fried rice, beef chow fun, or General Tso's chicken (only one of them not all, personally I like roast pork and duck over rice but it's not part of the options) if they bought an iPhone 4.  So I think that's fair.  But Apple goes further if the non issue bothers you and you don't like greasy Chinese (who wouldn't?  Really?), you can simply return the damned phone.  After all it's just a damned phone there is no need to get all worked up.  Let's move on to iPhone 5 already.

MK Lifestyle in NYC

Yeah!

There used to be a club called MK in the Flatiron area I wonder if it's still around.  I have a feeling that it's not.

Straight Razors

The bottom one is my newly acquired straight razor, it's smaller but I think sharper and just a tad easier to maneuver on the immaculate terrain that is my face: cheeks, chin and jawlines most people would kill for. The F.H.Loeffler's Our Drummer is 5/8" while the Dovo is 6/8" and in comparison the Dovo is just bigger, longer and heavier, overall it feels substantial and awe inspiring. Is it necessarily better? I guess it depends on one's preference.

update:
1/19/2013
I think I like the 6/8 size better.  But you may think differently.

Good News

BP hasn't done anything right for the past 85 days and now finally it is able to plug the hole to stop the oil from gushing.  The Gulf Coast is safe for now.

---

What's Apple going to say tomorrow?  A total recall, a free bumper for every iPhone 4 sucker, or a $5 duct tape cash coupon at Home Depot, or just to tell Chuck shut the hell up?  I can't wait to find out what Apple has to say.  Personally I say just rename iPhone 4 to something like iPhone 5.

Wong Faye WTF Concert Promotional Picture?

picture from mingpaonews.com

Is this picture meant for press release?  The picture, make-up and costume look horrendous.  The other candid shot, also appears in mingpao, shows her in the process of having her make-up done looks so ridiculously ghastly that I don't even want to post it here.  She was once known for her otherworldly avant-garde, if there is such a thing, stage costume.  But this is just bad costume and bad make-up and bad styling.  Somebody got to help this woman.

Bill Cunningham on 41st and 5th

I saw wild Bill speeding down 5th on his bike, sans helmet, in a turquoise blue cardigan, stylish as ever in his own unique way.  I was trying very hard to see what camera was hanging on his neck, with him paddling at 100mph about twenty feet away and my failing eyesight I think it's a black Nikon FE2 with a prime lens.  I waved and said Good Morning.  And he waved back too.  I was awe struck.  Bill made my day.

iPhone 4: the Inauspiciously Named iPhone

iPhone 4 just can't have a break, can it?  Apple has nobody to blame but itself.  Why bother naming the iPhone 4?  Nobody in his right mind would call it a 4.  And look what happened?  Workers were jumping off the roof in abundance, some college kid, in a moment of greedy confusion sold an iPhone 4 prototype and now both he and Gizmodo, the buyer are under police investigation.  The iPhone 4 since its debut is plagued with issues, yellow tinted glass, very breakable back glass, reception issue, proximity sensor issue and now the latest:  Consumer Reports confirms what we already know, iPhone 4 has antenna issues.  Apple doesn't like it and according to one of Engadget's blogposts, Apple is starting to delete support threads that mention the Consumer Reports report.  I think that's low.  Apple considers issues if any are software related as opposed to hardware, i.e. placement of the antenna.

World Cup, the End

Now that you have survived the very exciting 2010 World Cup, and more importantly the seemingly deadly vuvuzela (you might have hearing loss but who cares?), aren't you proud of yourself?  I know I am.  The bad news is there isn't any other sports that are so officially sanctioned at work, i.e. any office drone can say with a straight face that he is watching the game online or on TV in some conference room without any repercussion.  Actually it's almost encouraged, sort of a bonding thing to do, similar to the 15-minute cigarette break every hour on the hour practiced by smokers and non-smokers alike.  Sadly all good things must come to an end.  But the good news is in 2014, another World Cup will be held, and this time in Brazil and until then everybody shall be productive at work, doesn't have to pretend to know soccer to blend in, and only take his usual 15-minute cigarette break every hour on the hour only.  See you all in four years.

我願意

Weekly maudlin love song ...  This week I present you Wong Faye's 我願意.  Just read that she is going to have concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, China.  These songs just reaffirm how awesome Wong is.  Her awesomeness has really no parallel.  She rules.



OKAY, one more
傳奇

image from mingpaonews.com

copyright belongs to respective rightful owners.

Water Bottle

For the past few days, I have been carrying my own water bottle on my commute. Not too long ago, I thought water bottle was really a thing of the past and nobody in his right mind was carrying any. People were buying sodas or plastic bottled water. Sure I had carried them all the time but that was when I was a primary school kid when the school I went had no water fountain (and no flushing toilets either but that's another story ...) and I had no pocket money to speak of. Carrying a water bottle was part of the school attire just like a school bag or a pencil case, a necessity. Back then they were mostly plastic bottles with whatever hit cartoon characters on them and if you were a bit older and wanted to look macho or a manly man you would perhaps opt for one that was favored by the boy scouts or pseudo military type--a stainless steel bottle with green canvas waist or shoulder belt. I think some, the more genuine ones, even came with a separate canteen for boiling water or cooking. Now as plastic bottled water is falling out of favor or even becoming a symbol of silly consumerism, I can see there is a big comeback for reusable water bottles, especially the stainless steel ones.  If it doesn't inconvenient me too much, I definitely prefer to bring my own water bottle, I spend less, recycle less and consume sugar less.

Nikon Bring Images From Space

If Nikon is good enough for NASA, I guess it's good enough for me too.  I like Canon and I think they are way ahead of Nikon in terms of megapixel and video technology but the AF issues or problems I've read, rumor or not, just give me pause.

via Nikonrumors.com

The Girl who Played With Fire

This is the second installment of the late Stieg Larsson's widely successful Millennium Trilogy. 

This time the story gets very personal.  We got to know more, way more, of our female protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, which is of course a welcome diversion from the middle aged journalist Blomkvist who always got lucky with the ladies and is the main focus of the first installment.  We found out her past and her family and hence why she is what she is--such a certifiable and justifiable nutcase.  Salander might be strange with a capital S but at the same time she is just like every other girl we know.  When she got tons of money, what does she do?  She goes on a year-long vacation, buys an exquisite apartment and yes gets a boob job done by the best surgeon available in Genoa, Italy.  I am sure the girls can relate.  Larsson does most of the narratives in his own voice and there aren't that many dialogs, especially of Salander's because you know she is such an antisocial weirdo.  But sometimes we got lucky, didn't we?  On page 584 of the mass market paperback, we got to hear undistilled and unfiltered words pouring from her mouth, which are rare and at the same time exemplary of what she is.

"I've had a fucking miserable week and I'm in a fucking bad mood,"  she said.  "You know what the worst thing is?  Every time I turn around there's some fucking pile of shit with a beer belly in my way acting tough.  Now I'd like to leave.  So move your ass."

If there were ever a subtitle it could have been called "The Girl Who Hate Men Who Hate Women."

The book is more than 700 pages thick and Larsson, a master of story telling and suspense, just keeps his readers guessing and wanting for more.  It certainly is on par with the first one and it bests the first one especially if you are a bit tired of the whole serial killer genre and more into something like sex trafficking.  The book has an abrupt ending which only makes one want to read the third installment even more.

Actually You Can't Fry an Egg, not Yet

According to the NYT, you can't fry an egg on the pavement yet.  Not with a frying pan anyway.

Severe Weather Alert

NYC is in the triple digit now.  You can probably fire an egg on the pavement now.

Email Salvagd From the Internet Gutter

To protect the innocent, part of the email may have been redacted.

Over the weekend, two girls from two local institutes of higher learning, admit to having worked in a night club. One said she had sex with clients. The other said she only had drinks with clients, and revealed that she saw a lot of tragic stories. When we were young, a trgic[sic] story happened when a daughter had to quit school to work at a nightclub in order to support her little brother or her tuberculous father. These days, unless Miss Zhou is willing to divulge a little more, my understanding of a tragic story is when you don't have a LV bag. Anyway, I still like the quotes about the alleged benefit of inflammation-relief in relation to copulation with an older man and "This world needs change!"

A Ballman Wannabe Story

US Open is probably the only Grand Slam event that allows a grown man or woman to pick up errand tennis balls on the court while in other majors this somewhat laborious job is decidedly reserved to the boys and girls in their teens.  Here is a seldom or never told story about a man who auditions to be a ball boy in the upcoming USOPEN 2010 in Flushing Meadows.