Can You Tell The Chinese Don't Teach Me How To Play Tennis

Li Na absolutely hated her fellow Chinese country men.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

A documentary that is at once entertaining and enthralling.  It's not like you see how graffiti artists work every day, let alone the great Banksy.  Exit Through The Gift Shop delivers both and more.  It tells the story of the greatest documentary on graffiti artists that was never made and captures the utter absurdity of a feverish obsessive compulsive videographer, Thierry Guetta, who takes a keen interest in graffiti and becomes an artist himself.  The movie asks the perennial question that eludes everybody, what is art anyway?  Just like any other meaningful questions in life, it really doesn't have an answer.

On The Street ... Bikes Covered With Snow

The obligatory bikes covered with snow.

Crappy WiFi HardWare That Works with Ubuntu 10.10 AMD64

My crappy Trendnet TEW-228PI has been on its last leg for a long time.  It gives me some connection but I really have to stay on top of it as it takes a long time to see my AP and drops connection randomly.  I was able to get the Windows driver to work with it but only barely.  I don't know if it has to do with its shorty antenna or what.  But bottom line, it doesn't work well at all.

Finally I had had enough.  I bought this super duper Wireless 802.11b/g PCI card from Edimax, model EW-7128G.  Wow.  I didn't have to type any command at all.  What a disappointment.  Perhaps it has this detachable antenna, the signal is much better than before.  The card just works and I feel like why didn't I buy it earlier.  

uname -a
Linux [redacted-desktop 2.6.35-25-generic #44-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 21 17:40:44 UTC 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lspci
04:07.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI

sudo lshw -C network
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
vendor: RaLink
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:04:07.0
logical name: wlan2
version: 00
serial: 00:1f:1f:a8:22:36
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt61pci driverversion=2.6.35-25-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.108 latency=32 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
resources: irq:21 memory:fdef0000-fdef7fff

On The Street ... After The Snowstorm

A Couple of Sanitation Workers Removing Snow

Shooting and titling just like The Sartorialist does, that is, minus the punctuation part.  The guy may know how to shoot but he is the worst offender of the ellipsis abuse ever.

I spotted a couple of sanitation workers hard at work on the street after the snowstorm and I asked if I could take a few pictures of them and they were kind enough to let me snap away.  Here are the pictures.

Camera and Cop

A cop with a camera is not a cop anymore.  Immediately the camera transforms the law enforcement agent into a keen observer, a voyeur who cares more about the unfolding and the recording of the event in front of the lens so much so that he almost encourages what's happening continues to happen uniterrupted regardless of what's actually happening and in spite of his primary duty to serve and protect.

Nikon D7000

It gives very clean very detailed images--some people may say it's too clean.  In terms of color there is something needs to be done by ... me I guess.  Something is off sometimes, too yellow to my taste but this can be subjective.  Maybe it's the auto white balance.

I like the body a bit wider (and I don't even have big hands) and the live view and multi selector swaps places.

See label Nikon D7000 below for pictures.

Shooting Into The Light

Wow, there is no flare and no ghost.  And I have an UV filter and no hood on.  The Nikkor 28mm f/2 AIS is that flare and ghost resistant.  Shot at f/5.6 aperture priority with -0.7 or -0.3 EV compensation.

update 1/26/2011
When I made the above two shots I wasn't thinking about testing the D7000 or the 28mm Nikkor f/2 AIS, let alone on flare or ghost specifically.  I shot them just for artistic or no reason at all.  As it turns out my comment on flare and ghost concurs exactly what Bjorn Rorslett has said about the 28mm AI (not AIS though) on his lens survey.  I found the flare and ghost resistance pretty unusual myself.  Maybe if the sun was a tad higher it would have more of an effect.

Angel

Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 28mm f/2 AIS @f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO200

I found it very difficult to shoot this close hand-held.  The depth of field is very shallow, more often than not, the focus falls at the back.  I have the face recognition on in live view and it does work with MF lens but unfortunately it doesn't recognize the face correctly resulting in wrong focusing feedback.  No post sharpening applied.  Image scaled to 1920 wide.

D70 And D7000

D7000 and D70.  The plastic fantastic D70 is taller, wider and lighter than the D7000

Nikon camera is known for its superior ergonomic design.  Perhaps the D7000 is an exception.

Multi selector
Notice the placement of the multi selector?  It should have been put where the live view switch is, period.

AE-L/AF-L
The AE-L/AF-L button is way too close to the viewfinder rendering it very difficult to use especially for those who wear eyeglasses.  And I don't even have big hands or big thumbs.  The D70 is equally bad in that department.  The F5 is indefinitely better as the viewfinder is more protruded from the body.  Luckily I don't use this button too often perhaps because it's impossible to use.

Power switch
Not as decisive as the D70.  It doesn't have a nice click to it.  It also acts as a light switch to the control panel on top just like the F5.

Cyclist

Boat Shoe

When Timberland boat shoes were still Made in the USA.  Focus on the brass eyelet.  Handheld.  f/2 1/40s ISO200.

In response to millions and millions of emails requesting test shots from my Nikon D7000, here is one.  Judge it yourself.  This is just a resize to 1920 wide, no nothing is done other than in-camera adjustments like sharpening and contrast.  I don't know much anyway.

Pancake Breakfast

I like my Nikkor 28mm f/2.  It performs pretty well especially shot close.  It isn't a macro or micro lens but when shot close I think it gives very nice result.  This is handheld at 1/100 at f/4 at ISO 500.  I did a curve to lighten and darken ever so slightly.  No post sharpening.  I have to say it looks pretty sharp to me especially given that the fact that it's shot close and handheld.  So I have no complaint.  But I just don't like the white balance, the yellow bothers me--here I am pretending to know what I'm talking about.

Icicle

Handheld, micro-Nikkor 55mm at 1/160s and f/5.6 ISO 100

Resized it to 1920 pixel wide in GIMP, and saved in 97% JPEG compression.
In the D7000, picture control at standard mode with sharpen at 6 and contrast +1.

I think it really gives a lot of details and plenty of sharpness when shooting macro.

Taxi

Another D7000 test shot, as if ... I am testing. My conclusion is there is some issue with focusing confirmation. But I can't say for sure. Ha ha. That's if I use manual focusing lens, say 28mm f/2 or the micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8, and I pick a focusing point, and the in focus green dot is on, but actually the focus is behind the intended subject, or the so to speak back focus. So you actually better off just trust your own eyes, if it looks in focus in your eye from the focusing screen then it's in focus. For auto focus with my good old AF 18-70, there is no problem locking in the focus. This is totally non scientific from yours truly. When I shoot the D70 using manual, I think I have similar problem in which the selected focusing point actually shift by itself to the center one automagically even when I choose not the center one. In the D7000, the selected focusing point never moves by itself or at least the focusing screen doesn't show it even if it moves and hence resulting in wrong focus or something.

There are really at least two factors in play. Perceived sharpness and in focus. To be continued ...

Sergey Brin Returns as CEO

Brin refuses to sit out on the sideline to see world productivity plummet because Facebook is sucking up everybody's time online.  "If people are going to waste their time away online they better waste it on Google, not Facebook by that Zuckerberg," Brin is never heard saying that.  Brin will return to run Google like it was ten years ago, with more teen spirit than stodginess inevitably instilled by that old(er) man Schmidt in the past ten years.

Ski Trip Without The Ski Part

Shot and rendered in 1920x1080, uploaded at 1280x720 at 23.976fps. Edited in Cinelerra.

Note:  The audio level may be considered loud for some in some environment, so you may want to turn it down or wear a headset before playing the clip.

I just noticed it's mono.  I should have copied the same track to at least make it stereo before rendering.

Horsey at Bryant Park

Shot with a Nikkor 28mm f/2.  When the subject is in focus.  The picture is sharp.  Problem is there are zillion focus points and I guess not all of them are reliable all the time.  I feel like sometimes when the green dot is on but in reality it's not where it's focus.  But this is just me, not at all scientific.  This is done with USM, Radius 5, Amount 0.5, Threshold 0.  In live view you can really get things in focus.  But then you can't shoot everything in live view.

What Would Amy Chua Think?

If Amy Chua is the Tiger Mom, then what is Lynn Passarella, a hack?  The woman can barely write, probably better than me but not by much, and yet she is the principal of a high school that actually has the best scores in the city.  But of course the high scores are a sham.  Because there is this school policy that doesn't allow teachers to fail students like no matter what.  According to some students, there is simply no consequence whether you go to class or not and you have to be an epic failure to actually fail there.  So there you have it.  Passarella or Chua, who is crazier?  Who is good crazy and who is bad crazy?

I bet Jared Eng has a Tiger mom.  The guy went to Columbia and studied computer science and now is running justjared, rolling in seven figures.  Wow everybody can use a tiger mom.

Apple

Apple is experiencing some explosive diarrhea in the stock exchange.  Apple is umbilically attached to Jobs and if Jobs is to leave or in protracted absence, what's Apple going to be?  Can Apple still be Apple without Jobs?  Investors are nervous.  I wish Jobs good health.

Golden Globes, Inception and The Karate Kid

The Globes think Inception is a piece of turd, and gives absolutely no awards to the movie or its cast. My conclusion is number 1 the Globes don't know about movie which is a possibility; or number two Inception is really a piece of turd masqueraded in slick production and good looking actors but still nonetheless a piece of turd that stinks up pretty badly. But what do I know? I like The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan which receives no nominations in any category. But man, I have to say they bring out the best in each other. Instead of the perennial asshole that Chan can be, Chan as Mr. Han, gives us an almost nuance performance that is both understated and humbled. Jaden Smith can be your obnoxious child actor you just love to hate. It isn't his fault that he was born to Will Smith but I just love to hate privileged kids like Jaden. Anyway, when Smith's Dre got beat up so badly by a bunch of Chinese bullies you kind of root for him. On top of that Smith doesn't look like he is anywhere near twelve years old, he looks like he is barely six while the bullies are all a head taller and bigger than him. Plus the beatings are really vicious and I am surprised the movie chooses to depict that but I think it works. The film pays homage to its forebears including the original Karate Kid movies, Bruce Lee, Back to the Future series and Chan's earliest movie, namely Drunken Master that catapulted him to mega stardom. The title The Karate Kid is a misnomer but as it is I think the connection is there and at least the message of Kung Fu is intact, much better than the awful tagline used in the poster of The Grandmasters.

Nikon D7000 f-stop and D-Movie

Some some reason, Nikon likes to call its movie D-Movie like in dumb movie. I have read somewhere that you can't change aperture in the middle of shooting your D-Movie. I don't know about that. I shoot my dumb movies with my AIS lenses and sure enough I can change my aperture on the fly by simply turning the aperture ring on the lens itself. For shutter speed in D-Movie, the slowest you can go is 1/30 of a second. That's the limitation I am aware of in addition to limited frame rate and bit rate compared to the competitions.

Green Hornet is Raking in The Green

Jay Chou's eyes lead Green Hornet to number one in America's box office over the weekend. Green Hornet, it's all about Chou's eyes.

Nikon D7000 And Jaundice

I like everything about the D7000 except the picture. It gives people jaundice. A yellow cast across the broad.

Blue Mountain WiFi

Messed up. Not connecting. At least on this side of the lodge.

Chen Xue Yin: A Hong Kong Tragedy and Other HK BS

More cables intercepted online and leaked here


QUOTE
I think the sugar daddy spent less than hkd 500k on her. They had sex three times. So it worked out to be hkd 166k per fuck. I didn't follow the whole story. That was my impression of it. You might know better. I am more interested in the fact that why she was paid only hkd 3000 per month while some administrators/coaches have annual salaries of over a million dollars a year.
>
> 寄件者: [REDACTED]
> 日期: 2011/01/04 星期二 下午 04:31:51 HKT
> 收件者: [REDACTED], [REDACTED],
> [REDACTED]
> 主旨: RE: 回覆： RE: 回覆： RE: 回覆： Personal Alert on Your Favorite
>
>
> Mr X offered her a cheque of HK$50,000 in the first instance, without asking for anything, just want to be "friend" of chen, [REDACTED], you should behave like Mr X'
> [REDACTED]
>
> > From: [REDACTED]
> > To: [REDACTED]; [REDACTED]; [REDACTED]
> > Subject: 回覆： RE: 回覆： RE: 回覆： Personal Alert on Your Favorite
> > Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 16:24:53 +0800
> >
> > If she had found any of us, she would not have been in jail. That much I know.
> > >
> > > 寄件者: [REDACTED]
> > > 日期: 2011/01/04 星期二 下午 03:57:20 HKT
> > > 收件者: [REDACTED], [REDACTED],
> > > [REDACTED]
> > > 主旨: RE: 回覆： RE: 回覆： Personal Alert on Your Favorite
> > >
> > >
> > > if chen found a boyfriend like [REDACTED], the outcome is totally different
> > > [REDACTED]
> > >
> > > > From: [REDACTED]
> > > > To: [REDACTED]; [REDACTED]; [REDACTED]
> > > > Subject: 回覆： RE: 回覆： Personal Alert on Your Favorite
> > > > Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 15:48:09 +0800
> > > >
> > > > She is one shining example of making it for a girl who comes from a poor/new immigrant background. She has brains. She is in the entertainment pages everyday for the entire 2010. Some feat! In contrast, Chen Xue Yin was an idiot. She is going to be jailed for blackmailing her 72-year old sugar daddy. She had athletic talents. Yes, she was sleeping around and had lots of boyfriends. Eventually, she was impregnated accidentally by a loser of a similar background. They had a family and had no money. Who is to blame? In 1997, a rower like her was entitled to an allowance of hkd 3000 (right now it is around hkd 6000). That was a joke. Now the government is trying to host the Asian Games.

> > > > >
> > > > > 寄件者: [REDACTED]
> > > > > 日期: 2011/01/04 星期二 下午 03:37:25 HKT
> > > > > 收件者: [REDACTED], [REDACTED],
> > > > > [REDACTED]
> > > > > 主旨: RE: 回覆： Personal Alert on Your Favorite
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > why don't you quote the example of chrissy Chow, she only has a 36D breast
> > > > > [REDACTED]
> > > > >
> > > > > > From: [REDACTED]
> > > > > > To: [REDACTED]; [REDACTED]; [REDACTED]
> > > > > > Subject: 回覆： Personal Alert on Your Favorite
> > > > > > Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 15:29:44 +0800
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Not buying an i-phone doesn't mean one can afford an apartment in Hong Kong. If you are a guy who comes from a government housing background, the odds are quite long for you to make it here in Hong Kong. Try tell them the Spirit of the Lion Rock. Yes, once upon a time, a high-school graduate became the Chief Executive of the HKSAR. A HKU graduate of the early 70s also became the Financial Secretary and married an Olympic medal winning diver 25 years his junior. Now it is the era of the Black Rock.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > 寄件者: [REDACTED]
> > > > > > > 日期: 2011/01/04 星期二 下午 01:21:15 HKT
> > > > > > > 收件者: [REDACTED],
> > > > > > > [REDACTED],
> > > > > > > [REDACTED]
> > > > > > > 主旨: Personal Alert on Your Favorite
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In these days people want to be successful and they want it quick.
> > > > > > > Perhaps they spend too much time reading about the lives and the
> > > > > > > trappings of the local glitterati and socialites in gossip magazines
> > > > > > > like the One Magazine. As a matter of fact, many university graduates
> > > > > > > do only read the One Magazine and nothing else. I can understand the
> > > > > > > frustrations of the 80 后 but one step at a time. Having a bachelors
> > > > > > > degree or even a masters degree does make you the master of the
> > > > > > > universe.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > All one can hope for is that your parents give you a good education.
> > > > > > > Everything else is up to you and your personal effort. You can't
> > > > > > > choose your parents, your social economic status or your upbringing.
> > > > > > > You are born to these things. Complaining that your father is poor
> > > > > > > is no use. That's why social mobility is important for a healthy
> > > > > > > society and meritocracy, at least in the civil service, is absolutely
> > > > > > > necessary. 際遇 or vicissitudes are also something one needs to learn
> > > > > > > to live with. If your senior or supervisor is about your age and
> > > > > > > he/she is not retiring any time soon, there's nothing you can do about
> > > > > > > it.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > There's a lot more the government can or should do to make life a bit
> > > > > > > easier to bear, especially for the downright poor. It has already
> > > > > > > done a lot in providing a decent education for the average kid and
> > > > > > > much more in making health care available to the majority of the
> > > > > > > populace. People in the middle or 80 后 want the government to provide
> > > > > > > subsidized housing like what Singapore does but the local government
> > > > > > > has its limitations. Many 80 后 complain about the current
> > > > > > > extortionate flat prices while spending like crazy on new iPhones,
> > > > > > > fine food and expensive clothing. They think they deserve these fine
> > > > > > > things in life irrespective of their social economic status.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > 2011/1/4 [REDACTED]:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In this caste system, there are the leaders who are born to this
> > > > > > > position, there are middling levels and then the working poor, and the
> > > > > > > minimum wage earners. For a local grad, getting hired as an EO is hard
> > > > > > > enough. But for an EO, promotion to an AO is impossible. For an AO,
> > > > > > > getting hired as a 副局? is also impossible. That is the way it is.
> > > > > > > Sometimes, I understand the anger of the 80 后。 I would have been angry
> > > > > > > if I were one of them. What is worse, they grew up in an environment
> > > > > > > which was less difficult (compared to ours). They are less adapted
> > > > > > > even if their parents are not particularly rich.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In the last post, I forgot to mention the grads of an ivy-league
> > > > > > > school who come from an ordinary local family. They are sort of
> > > > > > > between (2) and (3). That figures.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Even 52% or more than 50% of the ESF school students come from local
> > > > > > > families. For the schools of the type of Jiangsu Chejiang (English
> > > > > > > section), the number is probably 99.9%, The mentality is the same.
> > > > > > > Stuff the duck. The more important factor is the fact that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]
> > > > > > > are just 鬼仔鬼妹性格 that really makes difference. That is not to blame the
> > > > > > > D trait.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > The other day, I read an article in the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
> > > > > > > The writer wrote that there was a new caste system 种姓制度 in the Hong
> > > > > > > Kong financial industry. There are 4 classes of people in this system.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > (1) The Brahmins who reside on the peak or at the mid-levels. The
> > > > > > > Ivy-league-school or Oxbridge educated sons and daughters of the local
> > > > > > > high-ranking government officials or local magnates.
> > > > > > > (2) The Hai Gui (tortoises 海?) who are likewise educated in a top
> > > > > > > school abroad. Their mainland connection makes them second in the
> > > > > > > league
> > > > > > > (3) The top students of the HKU, CU and the UST and those who
> > > > > > > graduated from a less well-known school abroad. Mr Ren Liang Xian is
> > > > > > > in this category.
> > > > > > > (4) Less able students of the local universities.
> > > > > > > In the writer's view, (3) can hardly break into the domain of the (1)
> > > > > > > and (2). Usually, they play in the Second Division. At most if at all,
> > > > > > > they only play in the second half of the First Division. For (4), just
> > > > > > > forget it.
> > > > > > > In today's world, the competition for jobs are keen. The competition
> > > > > > > for good ones even keener. This is a new reality.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

UNQUOTE

What Would Amy Chua Think?

I am pretty sure Amy won't approve.  It's either violin or piano or both.  Not freaking beauty pageant.

Warning:  A 5-year old girl having her eye-brows waxed, pleading for mercy and in apparent distress.  You have been warned.


video via gawker.

無眠

Rooney Mara Is Lisbeth Salender

With a body like this, who needs clothes?

The zero body fat Rooney Mara is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Photograph by Jean-Baptiste Mondino for WMagazine.com.  Image belongs to its rightful owners.  Wow, that's hot and cold.  More Millennium Trilogy from yours truly.



You think only Lisbeth Salender can survive a gun shot in the head?  Think again.  Arizona House Representative Gabrielle Giffords is apparently recovering from a through and through gun shot wound from a Glock 19.  Get well soon.

What Would Amy Chua Do?

What would Amy Chua do? Would she approve what Uncle does?  Would she approve his message?
Notice the Asian fan in the background? Could that be from Amy? Did Uncle get his parenting skill from a Chinese mother and take it up a few notches? I won't discount that possibility. Video via Gawker.

Warning: Video may not be suitable for children, young or old adults. Crude language and violence against a minor.

This Week in Review

Everybody is into parenting now!

Here is my wikileaks from emails cables savaged from the Internet gutter.  It says whatever I want to say except saying it much better than I am capable of....

QUOTE
I have come acrosss some ABC or heard about those people in my previous working life. Straight A student, played varsity tennis, Ivy League school..then worked for Morgan Stanley or a similar I-bank. 'Incredibly smart' for anyone who has met him/her. But is this for real? For one thing, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work in an i-bank. Besides, if they are so smart, then why they got into such a mess anyway in 2008? Doing well in an exam. doesn't mean you are smart. It only means you have (A) good study habits (B)
discipline. That makes you employable provided you also have some (C) EQ.  But that doesn't mean you are 'smart'. Yes, some geniuses shine from a small age, like Francis Crick (1962 Nobel for the double helix in genes) but Einstein was not particularly sharp when he was a kid. But to achieve great things as those luminaries had, you must have great curiosity about this world. Exams don't mean much. In the context of Hong Kong, to say that exams are  useless is nonsense. It is a necessary evil. There must be some sort of tests to evaluate students. That is from someone who always thinks of himself as a maverick. In my ideal world, a mix of the Chinese and American system is the best for the most 'gifted' students. For those who are, admittedly, less brilliant, some sort of discipline is needed. But for the smartest, the key is to stimulate them. Once they are stimulated, they can do it on their own, cruising along, so to speak. They may not do as well as Amy's children in public exams, but they will come through.
> 
> 寄件者: [redacted]
> 日期: 2011/01/14 星期五 下午 02:39:48 HKT
> 收件者: [redacted]
>        [redacted]
>        [redacted]
> 主旨: Invitation
> 
> I'd like you to read the following article from The Diplomat magazine:
> 
> http://the-diplomat.com/china-power/2011/01/03/the-trouble-with-parents/
> 
> 
> And to compare and contrast with this one [Thanks be to [redacted] for
> drawing my attention to it]:
> 
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
> 
> 
> And the following is very illuminating and related to Amy Chua's book above:
> 
> http://shanghaiist.com/2011/01/10/tales_of_a_chinese_daughter_on_the.php
> 
> 
> Especially the following from Shanghaiist's blog post above:
> 
> "My big sister was what I used to jealously call "every Asian parents
> wet dream come true" (excuse the crassness, but it really does sum up
> the resentment I used to feel towards her). She got straight As.
> Skipped 5th grade. Perfect SAT score. Varsity swim team. Student
> council. Advanced level piano. Harvard early admission. An
> international post with the Boston Consulting Group in Hong Kong
> before returning to the U.S. for her Harvard MBA. Six figure salary.
> Oracle. Peoplesoft. Got engaged to a PhD. Bought a home. Got married.
> 
> Her life summed up in one paragraph above.
> 
> Her death summed up in one paragraph below.
> 
> Committed suicide a month after her wedding at the age of 30 after
> hiding her depression for 2 years. She ran a plastic tube from the
> tailpipe of her car into the window. Sat there and died of carbon
> monoxide poisoning in the garage of her new home in San Francisco. Her
> husband found her after coming home from work. A post-it note stuck on
> the dashboard as her suicide note saying sorry and that she loved
> everyone.
> 
> Mine is an extreme example of course. But 6 years since her passing, I
> can tell you that the notion of the "superior Chinese mother" that my
> mom carried with her also died with my sister on October 28, 2004. If
> you were to ask my mom today if this style of parenting worked for
> her, she'll point to a few boxes of report cards, trophies, piano
> books, photo albums and Harvard degrees and gladly trade it all to
> have my sister back."  --  [Source:  Christine Lu, CEO of Affinity
> China]
> 
> 
> It's really really scary and every parent's nightmare.
> 
> 
> 2011/1/14 [redacted]
> 
> D won't her spent her or [redacted] 'valuable time' with my friends, she
> will insist [redacted] to do the supplementary exercises for IGCSE O Level
> Science and Math
> 
> [redacted]
> 

UNQUOTE

Snow

Sound track sampled from Videotape by Radiohead in In Rainbows.  Edited in Cinelerra.

Vimeo Difficulty

Perhaps everybody is crashing to watch Palin defensing herself or everybody is uploading his own version of Idiot With a Tripod, Vimeo is having difficulty transcoding video since last night.  I heard the problem is fixed but backlog is there to be cleared.  So patience is always a virtue especially you don't want to pay up for a Plus account.  If you don't have money you'd better have patience, lots of it.

UPDATE:
FAILED.
After waiting for no less than five hours for Vimeo to transcode or whatever they need to do.  It says failed.  Oh Well.  I should have known better that Theora/Vorbis or ogg isn't well supported.  But I gave it a try anyway.  Live and learn.

Snow

this is the blogger version.

Public School Kids Are Just Tougher

While most other private schools in the city declared closed even on yesterday, public schools are still open--I am sure Amy Chua approves though I doubt any of her kids go to public school well that's beside the point. Anyway. Public school kids are just tougher. I guess.

Good Service?

Then perhaps we need more snowstorms.

Snowpocalyse, VPN and Vista

If you haven't gotten your VPN client and Vista working, then you have to go to the office to work, or else.

Your IT probably blames you for messing up the VPN client like as usual and ask you to re-install or reboot, and you know in your heart of heart that it isn't you, at least not this one. And no matter how many times you reinstall and reboot it simply won't work.

If you have the fortune to still use Vista, and certain VPN client that gives you 442 error, fear not, you can get it to work and enjoy the snowpocalyse in the comfort of your own domain.

Just follow the instruction here.

Basically you need to
Right click to enable the Cisco Systems VPN Adapter
Right click to Diagnose
Select Reset the network adapter

Try to connect via the VPN client again and you "should" be connected--"should" is a big word that I use very loosely. If not, just haul yourself through mud and snow and head to your cubicle farm where you belong. Good luck.

One Day

It's 2:56 too long and it's rated B for boring.

UPDATE
Music: Adagio by Secret Garden from original 2046 soundtrack.
Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Nikkor 24mm f/2 AIS
Cinematographer: me
Editing: me
Computer: Quad-core Linux running Ubuntu 10.10 with 4GB RAM
Edited on Cinelerra CV

It has been a one-man production by yours truly with dozens of help from various online heroes.

Snowpocalypse

The picture doesn't do justice to what's going on out there. I shall declare a snow emergency now. Everybody goes home.

UPDATE:
There was no snowpocalypse. The snow emergency lasted for about one minute.

Snowpocalypse Part Deux

The city is still buried in two feet of snow and ten feet of garbage.  I don't know where the sanitation department is or has been.  I don't think the city is ready for another snow storm which is actually coming in like tomorrow.  But I think I am ready.  Snow shovels, check, snow thrower check, gasoline check, camera check, battery check, lens check.  Maybe I can also make a video too, much like the Oscar worthy Idiot with a Tripod except much lamer.

Cinelerra Part Deux

I guess for as long as I live, I struggle with Cinelerra.  Every time I try to use it, something is broken.  Granted it crashes and burns, but the latest is really the weirdest, when I quit Cinelerra it even logouts my account and gives me a reboot, consistently.  A major WTF.  I think that's pretty crazy.  I will try to compile the program from scratch and see what else it does to destroy my work.

I tried PiTiVi and the rendering result was pretty dope I have to say, Theora/Vorbis or something like that.  On the other hand, Cinelerra's rendition is sub par by comparison, probably it could be better if I know the right parameters and codec to use.  A video edited with PiTiVi is of course a few posts below.

Untitled

The coolest man on earth gotta be the Snowman and he likes to hike butt naked on Bear Mountain.

Szeto Wah and Lie Huo Qing Chun

To me, Szeto Wah will be forever remembered as the one who called for the ban of Lie huo qing chun (1982). I remember one Sunday morning I was listening to CR2, and John Shum lashed out on Szeto for his call on banning the movie.  Shum, if I remember correctly, defended the movie and by extension the director Patrick Tam, saying that Szeto had no idea how much Tam had spent on the movie and how Tam stood to lose a lot if the movie was banned.  So on and so forth.  The verbal assault was so vicious, vitriolic, violent and I guess so unbecoming, CR2 had to turn off his mic in the middle of the broadcast.  Wow, I thought that was pretty cool.  At that time, as a youngster I thought and still think Szeto wasn't cool to call for a ban on the movie.

UPDATE: 1/10/2011
Apparently there is some pent up demand for the movie.  And not everybody is a search fiend.  So at the risk or ruining my PG rating of this site, here is the, or one of the, controversial clips.  Well if it's on YouTube I think it can't be that controversial.

Warning:  Maybe inappropriate for young children or adults.

American Pastoral

Whenever I feel like I need to pretend to be some kind of intellectual I pick up a Philip Roth. And they never disappoint. I started reading American Pastoral in 2010 and couldn't finish it until 2011, mostly done on the train. I'm just glad I got it done. And I guess in 2011 I will spend less time reading crazy shit like that and begin reading like more pragmatic stuff. Adieu.

Breakfast

UPDATE:
I like the music I have chosen. It enables an emotional dissonance between the video and the audio.

Colored Pencils

Nikkor 50mm f1.4 at f1.4.  I never thought I would appreciate live view like I do now.  The view finder despite being 100% and 94% magnification, approximately, it's no match to liveview.  Sometimes the focusing point feedback is fooled even the subject you want to focus is not actually in focus.  Liveview with its gigantic screen and many many dots really shine when you need to focus macro or the like.  The D7000 really breathes new life to my grand collection of AI lenses.

UPDATE:
Just downloaded the firmware upgrade.  I was at my Linux machine.  But I got Wine so all was well.  Took the bin file, saved it to the SD card.  Plugged it back to the camera and upgraded.  I wouldn't know the before and after as I never seriously shot video in the dark to notice any red pixels to begin with.

01.01.11

Happy New Year.

01.01.11

Happy New Year.