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Taken last September in Kissena Park.

Shitstorm arrived in New York Today

My advice and opinion are free and your money is probably not, so read and heed at your own risk.
The Dow went down more than 200 points.
Google fought government subpoena to surrender search data. Google lost almost $37 and closed below $400 today on 4Q concerns. MSN, AOL and Yahoo, one way or another compiled somewhat to the government's request for search data. Google believes we have the right to search, porn or otherwise, in strict confidence.
Now that Apple and Intel are bedfellows, both stocks sink today, well most stocks sink today. And there are talks that Steve Jobs may run the micky mouse company.
New York Transit workers reject deal that ended the 3-day strike in December last year. Look like I have to get my sneakers ready.

At Work

Here is my Dull computer and my messy work area.

Stock Market Analysis

My advice is free and your money is not. So read and heed at your own risk.

The 2-day stock market shitstorm in Japan is calming down. The panic selloff was probably sparked by a raid on LiveDoor on possible securities frauds. LiveDoor is an Internet highflyer founded by 33-year old college dropout millionaire entrepreneur Takafumi Horie. The company denied any wrongdoing. Investors got back on Thursday to pick up any perceived undervalued stocks.

AMD got all the momentum now. Look like Intel is not getting the halo effect from Apple despite the fact that Apple ceased to Think Different, and chose to use Intel. You would think Intel would get a boost on the stock price, no, not this one anyway. Actually, Apple's price goes down too. I wonder how many iPods can Apple sell. It's a nice neat MP3 player. Yes, it plays video and acts as a harddrive, but it doesn't do my dishes or laundry.

Google and Yahoo take a beating as well. Google is morphing from a search company to an advertising company and a search company and into anything that's techologically underserved. We got tons of services from Google and Yahoo for nothing, and they run the company based on advertising revenue, I wonder how long it's going to last. I click the banner ads once in a blue moon but I don't recall buying anything from them .... But advertising is not about immediate sales anyway, I do subject myself to ads, and that's the point anyway.

Jeff Skilling, one of the big two or three defendents on the Enron case was featured on today's NYT. I don't know what responsibility he had for the collape, I guess there got to be some, whether criminal or just plain ignorant, a court of law will have to decide.

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Seafood.

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Dental Adventure

For those of us who follow my blog, that's to say, a total of 2 or 3 or 4 of you out there, the root canal treatment on my second molar wasn't a "success." The molar cracked.
After all the pain, money and false hope, the second molar or number 15 was extracted. A tooth that had been with me since I was twelve (according to Sid, that is), so I do have good reason to miss it, for sentimental reason in addition to more obvious ones like chewing.
That being a second molar on the left maxilla, perhaps I can get away without getting an implant. I did some Internet research on dental implant, and I don't think it's that straightforward, particularly on that area, just reading it seems scary enough, sinus lift, bone grafting, it's definitely not a pleasant thing to undergo.

New York City Weather Report

Rainy, warm, and windy.

Something from the Sunday New York Times

In the States, we have Indigo kids; in Japan, they have hikikomori.

In the Spirit of MLK (as in Martin Luther King, Jr.), there is also an article on the Times Magazine regarding the pressure to cover up. Essentially, the author alleges that our society, after all these years of civil rights movement, is now protecting imutable traits, like race, gender or genetic makeup in general, but not protecting mutable traits, like behaviors. The author sees a need for a shift to liberty based protection on an individual level.

Friday, the 13th

Nothing goes right, nothing goes right. Nothing.

Readership doubles in 2 days

My readership doubles in two days, from one to two, thanks Sid and William. You are da men. Tomorrow I will be off then I will have Monday off.

Indigo Child

Here is my daily NYT digest:-
"Are They Here to Save The World?"
Everyone is special, you are special, I am special, and everybody is gifted.
And hence for children who are, for whatever reason just seem a bit off in the school, we now, ladies and gentlemen, are called indigo children. That's like the biggest B$ I have ever read in my morning commute. And they are the saviors of our universe? That's just great. And to make matter more interesting, some parents, indigo or not, decide to home-school their special indigo kids, that's just a recipe for success.
The article is by John Leland under the Thursday Styles section, which I find odd. But just maybe considered as a lifestyle. Live big, live indigo. That must be it.
The picture has nothing to do with what I write here. It's a target billboard in Times Square.

Where are the jpegs?

My loyal and probably only fan tatmengpoon is asking me the question. I haven't gotten the chance to shoot something I want to post.

Alleged Frauds and misunderstandings

Daily digest from my read of the New York Times

• Online shoppers got sweet revenge on online camera seller(s) ... in Brooklyn. It's almost common knowledge that plenty of online camera dealers are not what they claim to be. And we thought New York Attorney General Office would get involved, no, not likely as Mr. Spitzer spokesman, Brad Maione says, "It's just not something we have the resources to pursue." Right there, Mr. Spitzer won't get my vote if he's running for New York Governor. Mr. Spitzer's office is going after Wall Street, that I am aware of. Online camera dealers, no, not likely.


• "In a Filmmakers' Debut, The Day of the Virus Bombs." And I thought a movie by the name "The Day of the Virus" bombs at the box office. I really need to work on my English. Instead, I believe (don't believe a word I say) the article gives pretty good review on the soon to be released on Sundance film by first time director Chris Gorek. And the film is not called "The Day of the Virus," it's called "Right at Your Door."


• After the JT Leroy expose from yesterday, todays' Times follows with another article, the alleged fabrication of events passed as real life events by James Frey on his autobiograhy, "A Million Little Pieces."

Look like some people would do anything to get published on dead tree. Or one can just blog for the sheer pleasure of writing garbage.

Apple closes at 80.86

You read it here first.
No, you could have read this from techdirt or news.com.
On the day Steve Jobs unveils its Intel based computers, Apple's share price closes at $80.86.
There must be some cosmo mystic force at work here.
The Dow reached 11,000 was news yesterday. But I think this is more interesting.
On another iPod development, Chrysler is offering full iPod integration for most of its 2006 models. Will potential buyers base their car buying decision on iPod integration, probably yes ... to some iPod hipsters.
Update
Levi's just announced that it is churning out iPod-ready jeans: Levi's RedWire DLX line, that is. It features "a joystick in the watch pocket to operate the device." The line is available this fall. I would buy any Levi's jeans as long as they are 501. I don't need a joystick in my watch pocket ... because

• I like gameboy better
• I don't like joystick in the pocket
• ... I already have a joystick.

How to brew coffee

I have yet to find a satisfactory way to brew coffee at home. Perhaps I shouldn't drink coffee.
We have the dripping type with hot plate and we have the french press. Right now we are using the French press type. I read some articles, and the portion of coffee to water is 2 tablespoon of coffee to 6 ounces of cool fresh water. By the time the water becomes coffee, the temperature is not hot enough for my taste.
Perhaps I should try harder. Some people believe French press coffee tastes better or the best. I am not so sure. I am not an expert anyway. I have to record Alton Brown's True Brew episode airing Jan 24 7PM ET to get some idea.
Fung makes pretty good coffee, but he is too busy nowadays.

Daily Aggravation

Waiting for the bus
All three buses arive at the same time, the empty ones passed you by, while the crowded one stops for you
Getting on a crowded bus
Driver keeps stopping to let more people get in a crowded bus.
Driver keeps reminding people to move to the back of the car.
Self-righteous passengers urge people to move to the back of the car.
Some cyclist zooms by you and curses at you while you are crossing 42nd steet when the WALK sign is on.
I feel like to kill somebody.

Online ordering in 2006

Jcrew is pretty good at spamming its customers. Note, it's in a good sense. I think I must have signed up for their email spam list. Basically, their web site is pretty clean and easy to navigate. Well, it did go down when I tried to order something this past weekend. It's almost embarrassing to order from Jcrew, they are just hopelessly preppy and waspy, and the price is not that great. Except whey they are on sales. I ordered a jacket from them this past weekend. Though it promised an email notification. And I haven't received any regarding my order. So I have to check my credit card to track the order. I checked on my credit card and the shipment was charged. So much so for the evolution of online shopping. I love merchant keeps me informed every step of the way, I mean every step of the way, order received, order shipped, shipment tracking, you name it. Jcrew, you need to work on it.
UPDATE:
I received the item via UPS Ground today, Jan 11, 2006, just 1 day after the item was shipped. That's some speedy service.

Trees

No More Adsense

I thought I am going to get rich by using adsense. Guess not. My account just got disabled because of what Google thought it's fradulent clicks. I thought it's OKAY to click the ads myself or have my friends' click them. Guess not. I think it must be some "over zealous" friend of mine who clicked the living daylight out of it.
Anyway, getting rich using Adsense doesn't work for me anymore. I need to have a Plan B.
I guess this Blog is going to get banned soon.

SONY like.no.other(TM)

I was reading the New York Times on my way to work. And SONY's print ad caught my eye. It's on C11.
The print ad is a flow chart selling SONY's line of BRAVIA HDTV. Right in the middle of the diamond decision block, it says "A clear cry for something she can easily hang herself!"
That's disturbing. Is the wife looking for something to hang herself, like a rope, if then, the husband should get her a rope?
I believe SONY must have paid a lot for some ad agency to develop the ad. Money well spent. For half of what SONY paid, and a word more, I would say "A clear cry for something she can easily hang it herself." Or "A clear cry for something she can easily hang by herself." And no exclamation mark. There is nothing really exciting about it.

Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story

This is a pretty good read.
Kurt Eichenwald gives a detailed account of what happened at Enron. And as someone who has to deal with Sarbanes-Oxley or SOX compliance, I am most interested to know who the heck led to all those stinky SOX compliance. Although it claims to be "A True Story," one has to wonder about the dialogues used in the book, was the author there, so he knows exactly what was said among the principals involved? I am just wondering aloud here. The irony is while the big law firm, accounting firm and top management messed up big time, the file and rank and middle management suffer the most in the aftermath SOX compliance. While Arthur Anderson messed up big time and ceased to exist, SOX actually creates a new revenue stream for other professional firms to do SOX compliance jobs.
Anyhow, the book seems to place Andrew Fastow, the CFO as the chief architect of the Enron failure. Ken Lay, a ph.D in Economics, and Jeff Skilling, a former star at McKinsey, were protrayed as too ignorant or even a cry baby on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Ken Lay, I think, is scheduled for hearing some time soon later this month.

Lazy Eye and Tai Shan

Something from today's Times:

• Lazy eye is curable, even after age 8. That's good news.


• Tai Shan, the cutie panda cub. According to the Times article it's supposed to pronounce like tie-SHON. I don't know where is that coming from. I think it should just be pronounced as Tai Shan, I think it rhymes close enough to both Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation. And Tai Shan, other than just meaning "peaceful mountain" is actually a name of a mountain in China, sometimes called Mount Tai I guess. If you believe in Wiki you can check here.


• Investment Outlook for 2006. Basically, the advices dished out by the top brains are cautiously optimistic. The real estate market is slowing down, interest rates will go up a bit more. The advice is free but your money is probably not, so invest at your own risk.

Year 2006 is Here

Sometimes I turn on my webcam, and if you visit at the right time, you can probably see something. Most of the the time, the webcam is offline. So don't be surprised if you don't see anything. Plus the webcam page can only be viewed using Internet Explorer. What a bummer.
Munich
I saw the movie Munich. It was OKAY. I don't find it very exciting, maybe my expectation wasn't properly managed by the ad campaign. Anyway, the movie seems earnest and nothing is overly dramatized or stylized. The movie is close to 3 hours long, so be prepared. Eric Bana looks good, I guess he can't help it even the movie doesn't really kick up the cool factor considering he plays an assassin.

Happy New Year

The kids were performing for the seniors at Franklin Seniors Day Care. Everyone had a good time. 

Harry Performing in a Senior Center in Flushing

Here, Harry the entertainer. The kids from Chinese school were performing at Franklin Senior Day Care. Harry had a good time performing for the seniors there. 

Hunter Mountain New York

After a day of skiing, Alex needed some power drink to replenish the body, and so was Harry. The drive was about 3 hours, the snow wasn't good but I wasn't going to drive 7 hours for better snow. This was Alex first time putting on the skis, he was doing fine.
I did a bit of snowboarding, and had a bad fall. Given the status of hardpacked trail, the fall was quite nasty, good thing it was a butt side fall. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Thank you for all the e-greetings, much appreciated. And thanks for clicking the ads too.

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Alex, the photographer.

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London calling

The Strike is Over

So the strike ended on the 3rd day. There was no new contract, so what's with the strike? Gaining respect? It was bad a strike for TWU, a bad strike for New Yorkers. Essentially nobody wins. The strike was good for nothing. It was sheer stupidity.
I guess there is no need for more transit tips except when TWU decides they will have another strike if like they don't get 1 month paid vacation for new hires.
Last night I tried to get on those bus I took to work, no luck. Pretty long line, nasty traffic. I ended up taking the LIRR, which was like hell on earth on the first day of strike. Anyway, I went to the ticket buying booth, zoomed through the crowd, and went straight to track 17, the train was there, letting people off and letting people in. I was able to get in, a happy LIRR commuter. It was crowded but considering...I even managed to find a seat.

Strike Ends after 3 days

The TWU has had their fun. Now go back to work. New York City had been held hostage by the TWU for 3 days, enough is enough. Anyway, New York was slowed down but unstoppable.

Transit Strike Report: 3 Days in A Roll

Nobody in his right mind will take this in stride. The first day may be even fun, the 2nd day, well, it's not fun anymore, the 3rd day, people are just mad as hell.
In case you can't read what it says on the yellow flyer, that's OK, it pretty much boils down to, You are royally screwed by the TWU. 

How to get from Flushing Main St to Midtown

There are some rides waiting near the Main St Library, take them, they will let you off on 42nd Street and 7th Avenue, and Penn Station. $5 a ride. (Forget the LIRR. From what I heard, the LIRR don't even stop at the Flushing station until after 9AM. And it takes 2 hours to just buy a ticket. <- not personal experience, just here say. If you have good experience taking the LIRR at Main Street, great)
You have to give credits to the folks running those buses. Now the challenge is going home...the traffic in the city. They should be waiting on 7th Ave between 33 and 34th Street near BOA (Bank of America) between I think 3 sth PM and 8PM. The thought of waiting at Penn Station in the evening for hours just gives me nightmares.
I literally had a dream last night, I dreamt the strike came to an end when I woke up, I checked the Internet when I woke up, still no deal...

NY Transit Strke Report: Walking to Flushing

OKAY, walking is good for you and I. I walked to Flushing. On my way, a nice Jerry picked me up on Kissena, so thanks for Jerry for giving me a ride. You can always find some good New Yorkers, even in Flushing, even on Kissena Boulevard. Just don't expect you can find one at TWU, not at this time anyway.
Thanks to the strike, otherwise I would have never gotten this award-winning calibre picture...NOT. Taken on Maple Holly Avenue.

NY Transit Strike Report: 5th Ave - Bryant Park

Again, every blogger is a reporter. So here is a picture of what a closed station looks like. It no longer serves the commuters, however, if you are homeless you can still probably find a spot there, non-disturbed by straphangers marching in and out the station. So that's some good news.

NY Transit Strike Report: I made it to the City...

OKAY, I made it to the city and so were a lot of other folks. I am pissed by the strike. I survived 9/11, the blackout, and now I am supposed to take this sh$t from TWU, I can't believe that. In Christmas time, New Year Time.

Living the Transit Strike

In less than 8 hours, I am going to experience the pain of the transit strike.
In the interest of full disclosure, I don't work for the MTA or the TWU, I don't know anybody who belongs to the TWU. So that only leaves me with one opinion with the strike: I hate the strike with all my guts. There is no other way to put it.

Alex Guide to Cantonese

Alex guide to Cantonese. Lesson 1, count 1 to 10 in Cantonese. A 15 sec video. Enjoy.

Harry with Ginger Bread House

Harry holding his ginger bread house. A 21 seconds video. Enjoy.

The Strike is On

It sucks if you absolutely need to be in Manhattan.
I survived 911, the blackout, and now the transit strike.

---

It's Monday night, there is no sign of this strike is ending anytime soon.

Potential Transit Strike is still alive

I don't really know what to expect, all I know is, I am not coming to the city if there is no subway and no buses. It will be total chaos. Not in this weather anyway. The supposed deadline is Tuesday 12:01AM.

Yet another picture from the backyard

How to make Lo Bok Goh or Chinese Turnip Cake

I wouldn't call it a recipe but the word recipe probably helps me land some ads. Here is my experience with making Lo Bok Goh. All ingredients are estimates which will ultimately renders a nice Lo Bok Goh in a 8x8x2" Pyrex glass baking pan. Ingredients

• 1 Lo Bok, or what I believe is also called white Chinese turnip or what the Japanese call Daikon. You want to get one that is about the size of my forearm or slightly smaller, I am about 6 foot tall;
• 1 or 2 Chinese sausage;
• 2 or 4 dried Shit...ake mushroom;
• some dried shrimps;
• 8 ounces of white rice flour, give or take, I got 1 pound plastic bag, made in Thailand one, use about half; (EDIT 1/30/2022: 1lb of rice flour to 3lb of Lo Bok, 1:3 ratio)
• salt, sugar, and soy sauce;
• optional toasted sesame seeds and some cilantro

Prepare the rice flour

• Put only the rice flour into a big enough pot( big enough for all the ingredients);
• Add water and mix until flour turns into a nice batter, not too thick and not too thin, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon I guess. Add 2 teaspoons of salt;

Prepare the dried shrimps, mushrooms, and sausages

• soak the dried shrimps and dried mushrooms, then dice them when they are soft, safe left-over liquid;
• dice the Chinese sausage;
• pan fried the diced ingredients in high heat in a cast iron pan until you feel right, say 2 minutes, finish by stirring in table spoon of soy sauce and a touch of sugar; turn off heat.

Prepare the Lo Bok and put everything together

• Peel and then shred your Lo Bok into a some big enough cooking pan, no need to be fine;
• Turn on the fire and cook it in medium heat say 10 minutes, add a teapoon of sugar, don't add salt, the Lo Bok may turn bitter;
• Pour the cooked, still hot Lo Bok together with any liquid and the left over liquid used for soaking the dried shrimps and mushrooms, into the rice flour batter, fold them well, add the pan fried diced ingredients, mixed well. Adjust batter consistency by adding either more flour or water;
• Pour them into a 8x8x2 Pyrex glass baking pan or whatever you have in the kitchen that's right for the job.
• Now transfer the baking pan into a "steamer," you can make your own steamer by using a big wok or pan, fill it with some water, cover the wok or pan. Just make sure don't let the water dry out. Put two nickels or pennies into the steamer so it makes some noise when there is boiling water and quiet when it's bone dry. Let the Lo Bok Goh steam until firm, at least an hour or so.

Dust it with toasted sesame seeds and garnish with cilantro, let it cool completely and refrigerate. Slice and pan fry to golden brown. You may enjoy them with oyster sauce or chilly sauce or both or even more soy sauce if you are into soy sauce like I do... Original recipe from my Mom.

Week in Review

This week in review.

• The MTATWU half-assed strike was a non-event. I was able to get to work the usual way, taking the bus then the train. The latest is the new deadline is midnight next Tuesday.
• Google video. I uploaded a few videos, and two are online and two are still under review. The review probably takes more than 24 hours.
  
• I fixed the blog template, so the ads tower is top aligned for IE and Firefox. I must have messed up the JavaScript codes before.
  
• Some of my friends and families are heeding my ads clicking advice, to that, I say thank you.
  
• I was trying to get to use some RSS or atom feed to my blog but I have yet to figure out exactly how I am going to achieve that. I am disappointed.
  

To Do:
...Too embarrassed to list anything.

Documentary on Japanese Sushi

This is a 8 min 10 sec Japanese Documentary on Japanese Sushi. I've found it informative and entertaining, both attributes highly desirable and yet sorely lacking in most videos and other things in life.

New York Transit strike, partial-strike, non-strike

The good news: You can come to work.
The bad news: You can come to work.
The MTA Transit Workers Union, TWU is doing a half-assed strke as I type.
Now, I am in Manhattan, if they decide to have a full frontal strike, then I will be stranded in Manhattan, an island I always want to live on but can't afford. For the latest strike news, turn to some other news channel.
For any other useless information, come here.

Having lunch in the nearby Chinese restaurant

Harry making a face before enjoying a Dim Sum lunch in a nearby Chinese restaurant. Taken by Jin just before the food arrived. 

Building Ginger Bread House

Here is Harry with his class and his teacher Mrs. Anthony, having fun building ginger bread house. 

Ads now top aligned as intended

I fired up my browser, re-did my blogger template, re-did my ads, the layout is consistent across IE and Firefox now. I realized the problem but didn't give enough attention to it until my friend Fung made an issue out of it; because of the placement it's actually difficult for him to click the ads. So here you go, the ads are there for your click. Thank you much.

Where Chinese shops Chinese

At the request of wheelrover of Taiwan, here is where we shop our supplies. Since your request is important to me, I took a day off to take this picture just so you can see it. Happy? Click the ads here.
The shop is sandwiched between Holly and Laburnum and on Kissena Blvd. It's big, it's crowded. The food is reasonably good.

Thank You for some ads clicking

Thank you all for clicking ads, you guys really kick ass. Apparently somebody is listening to my plead. Also, it also brings the ads display 'problem' into the forefront. For Mozilla's based browsers the ads column is top aligned, which, I believe is what's supposed to be like. For Internet Explorer, the ads column is rendered center aligned, which is less desirable as my blog gets longer people actually can't see them while the blog's main page opens. I haven't got the time and intellect fire power to look into or fix this problem right away, if anybody can point me the right direction, the cook book steps, it will be great. I think it's to do with the template and the placement of the ads tower there. I might have messed up the codes but then I might have not...
Thank you.

So far I've earned like $2.06 from this blog

After all these postings since last year, I have made around $2. I think that's quite an achievement; assuming I am going to have this rate of return for the next few months, I guess I will have to write till my fingers fall off to make the $10 mark.
So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gay and straight, please click the ads on the right and bottom to help your friend here. I can use some cash inflow.to finance my designer drugs habit
.

The Christmas Tree

Bought from Garden World near Francis Lewis Blvd. and 46th Avenue, man, their website is pretty messed up. They can use some help. This is a 5-6 ft Fraser Fir, smells good. The decoration is done by Jin, Alex and Harry.
This is taken by a tripod given by me from Fung, thanks dude. This is on self-timer.
I am listening to some iTunes, most of the songs I don't even know I have, I used Autofill, all together 93 songs, and they turn out not bad, mainly olllllllllld songs like from the 80s or even earlier.

Harry Google Video from 2003

This is another Google video from my "library," as if I really have a library of video. The video was done sometime in 2003, some might have already seen it, some might not.
I hope this time around, things work just a bit better. The video is 1 min 17 sec, with some editing using Apple's iVideoiMovie, I don't even remember the exact name as my iBook is out of commission due to 'power failure' which can be attributed to a failure of the power adaptor. If you have an extra one please give it to me.
I just got my iPod Shuffle. After some struggling and juggling, I got my IBM Thinkpad to see the shuffle and now downloading songs to it. My IBM Thinkpad really s#&ks, can't put it any other way. The shuffle is a gift from Charles Schwab, considered my Christmas present.

My Own Google Video link is still iffy, for now

The below Google video link is still iffy. If the hyperlink carries you to just the Google Video homepage then there is nothing you or I can do. It's just the status of things. If the hyperlink carries you to the 25 sec singing, lucky you. The Google video is free and it's on beta so I really can't complain.
The load process is pretty straight forward, you go to http://video.google.com, sign up for their free service in return giving your soul to them, just kidding. Download the upload program, yes download the upload program. Run it and grab your video file, once it's complete, you have to wait for it to get 'verified' and go 'live.' From what I read, there has been some glitches, oh yeah, like even my video is live but it only works intermittently. It takes about 24 hours or more to get the video to go live, my experience anyway.

Harry Singing Turkey Song Video

Well, it stopped working, don't know where the video is or it kind of works intermittently, so good luck
This is kind of a video blog I guess. Turn audio off or down if you don't want to disturb your co-workers or your boss.
This is 25 seconds mpg video. You probably need to have Macromedia installed before you can play the video within the browser, tested to work fine with Firefox. Choose original size at the control to play eh...original smaller size video.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-137662307067509901
Recorded, encoded, uploaded December 11, 2005 and went live December 12, 2005.

Don't work too hard

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1539922531377218673, when played I adjusted that to original size, I believe you need macromedia 7 or higher to get it to play embedded on the browser.

New York City, Snow Day

Fifth Avenue between 41 and 42nd street, looking uptown.

Memoirs of a Geisha Today's Times got a review on this period piece fronted by a ethnic Chinese cast playing Japanese Geishas speaking English and directed by an English speaking director, Rob Marshall. The movie is based on the same name novel penned by Arthur Golden, a member of the Sulzberger family, owners of the New York Times. The review goes on to say it gives new meaning to a "period movie" as the Asian actors utter their English lines in a haulting way so much so that it sounds like every single word ends with a period or full stop. Ouch, that hurts. Gong Li got the reviewer's thumbs-up. If it earns more than $100 million on the opening weekend, then the critics can go to hell. The public speaks by opening their wallet.

Brokeback Mountain, another period piece, starring pretty boys Heath Ledger and Jack Gyllenhaal, and an English speaking cast directed by Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon fame's Ang Lee, also appears on today's Times review. The Times gives a all around thumbs-up to the movie and the performance by the two male leads. Ang Lee is the man.

New York City, snow day

Fifth Avenue outside the New York Public Library. Snow turns into shower, it's all messy. Whenever there's snow or rain, there is train delay. And there is nothing you can do about it.

Memoirs of a geisha, Munich, King Kong

King Kong is going to win in the box office.
Memoirs got mixed reviews from critics, but people seem to like it. Munich, with Eric Bana, the Hulk, and Daniel Craig, the new 007, could be a winner. We will find out soon. Peter Jackson and Stephen Spielberg are going to be the winners no matter what.

Bryant Park, New York City Again and Again

Bryant Park in Autumn.

Bryant Park, New York City Again

Perrier-green chairs just there to be sat on.

Bryant Park, New York City

All right, I think I took her picture more than I can remember. Part of it is she never says no, and part of it is she is always there. I am testing to see how sharp I can get from my camera, lens and post processing. Guess not sharp enough. Flat lighting, hand-held around 1/50s paid a role too.
I am not sure this is part of Bryant Park, this stature is located at the entrance of the New York Public Library. Am I using the word 'located' right? It seems to me a lot of the time, 'situated' is used. I like located.

Christmas is almost here

Christmas Tree from Home Depot or Garden World?
We still haven't gotten our tree yet. I guess it will be a Fraser fir, Home Depot has some for around $40, Garden World around $45.

Nikon lenses
My camera and lens lust continues unabated. My current obsession is the Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 the relatively older model with no vibration reduction. I rented the model once from Adorama and I was pleased with the result.

Game Boy Advanced
As to Christmas shopping, I haven't done any actual shopping, except for the Game Boy Advanced I got from Target on Black Friday.

Nikon
I took some pictures a couple days ago using NEF, the results aren't that great, nothing to do with NEF though. I am trying to see if post processing can help. I am all into sharp pictures but seems like I am not getting lots of them. Also I really messed up, I left the ISO at 1600 and the white balance at bulb to take some outdoor daytime snow scenes with Alex and Harry. So a big chunk of them are messed up technically, I found out the wrong setting later in the shoot.

Levi's, Ted Baker, Burberry...
Monday I took a day off so Jin can take care of some business. I took a train to the city, just to spend some time on my own. I wandered to the downtown area. I checked out the Levi's store, which I always like to go. I have a weakness for Levi's. Then I checked out Bloomingdale's, not really what they are selling, but just to use their men's room in the lower level. Pretty nice. The merchanize there are just a bit too high-end for my budget. Some $600-700 for a Ted Baker corduroy coat or a $700 Burberry tweed jacket. I don't belong there.

Broadway Pandhandler, wok, Global knife, Wusthof knife
I wandered down to Broome Street to actually shop at Broadway Panhandler. I always like this place. I ended up buying a few items, an oven thermometer, a meat thermometer, some measuring cups and spoons, and a zest peeler. On today's Times there is actually an article by Mark Bittman about cast iron cookware, which I happen to agree totally. I would emphasize that all non-stick utensils can't compare to a well seasoned cast iron skillet. And how long can the non-stick coating last, not long enough. The cast iron just keeps going and going and actually performs better as time passes, the opposite is true with any other fancy utensils. I would like to get a traditional Cantonese wok from Broadway Panhandler, the price is good too, but I think I just don't have enough space in the kitchen for a 14 inch wok for the time being. I guess wok cooking is very similar to cast iron skillet cooking. I also checked out the Global knife 3-piece set which is selling for around $150. I asked to hold them, they were much lighter than I thought plus according to the lady who showed me the knives, the knife, despite looking like made from one single piece of steel, it's actually not, the handle is filled with sand and welded to the blade. My Wusthof knife set feels more substantial.

LL Bean
New York is getting cold, good that I got my down jacket from LL Bean a couple years ago. The version I have doesn't have a detachable vest. The only complaint I have with my Maine Warden Parka is the hood is not BIG enough. I have a large and I think the hood is really small compared to the rest of the parka and the chin closure just not generous enough to allow easy closure. So it's kind of awkward. I tried the Northface and the hood is generous. Please Mr. Bean, get your hood right. Other than the hood, almost everything about the transaction or other shopping experience have been good. I exchanged my Maine Warden parka twice, large to medium and back to large...after a year and it was fine with them. I called them and they picked up the phone pretty much right away. Bean got my business.

Aeroplane

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Kissena park, bench, trees and an aeroplane

Picture taken in NEF, converted to jpeg using Ufraw from GIMP. I don't know much about the apps, I just used save as or whatever I feel like to use.
Do we need another park bench picture, probably not, but there is nothing you can do about it.

Thanksgiving, 2005

Edward, Alex, Eric and Harry.