Afternoon Dreaming

Inspired by my old friend ghorse, I am going to take a 30-day photographic tour in Washington, D.C. I shall haul all of my photographic gears along, mostly to satisfy my gear fetish as opposed to really taking pictures. Anyway, whatever turns me on. I will be shooting film and digital. If you have any extra $7000 D3X or any $2000 lens, please send them my way. My photographs are going to blow your mind as usual. The sakura in DC is already in full bloom, Oh No.

Epilogue: I dreamed big. There is no 30-day photographic tour, it's more like a 3-day get-away in DC with the family. You know stuff that middle-aged men do.

Sunday

Jin went to cloth/fabric shopping with her friends on Long Island.
Drove Harry to Chinese school and Alex came along.
Asked Alex if he wanted to go to Barnes and Noble again, we just went last night before Outback so we returned home. He played on his AQ game.
He thought he lost everything when the notebook or the game acted up.
We went to do some Chinese grocery shopping. We walked there instead of driving.
As usual I bought more than I expected. I thought I was going to buy some dim sum for lunch before heading home. Too bad the take-out section was too slow for me.
Walked back home.
Drove to pick up Harry and two of his friends.
Drove to McDonald's to have lunch. The had chicken nuggets, crispy wraps, the usual kind of junk. I had a chicken sandwich meal.
Drove home.
Kids played online game.
Women came back. The two boys and their mom went home.
We drove to the botanical garden. Mostly empty branches.
I took my two film cameras together with my tripod. Shot one roll of 120 160NC and almost a roll of 135 36 chrome. Both expired.
The garden closed at 6.
We went to a Korean seafood grill place, Sik Gaek. We ordered a small seafood plate and a steamed ribs. It was a lot. We couldn't finish everything. The service was pretty good. The waiters are young, courteous and helpful Koreans in their early 20s, i.e. different from most Korean restaurants in Flushing. The ribs very tasty. The steamed seafood, mostly clams were quite generous.

(PS: I can't write in complete sentences and paragraphs.)

Leica D-Lux 4 with 24mm View Finder In The Wild

Two minutes down on the street, I spotted a Leica D-LUX 4 with a 24mm viewfinder attached. I talked to its proud owner, a gentleman in his late 70s. He was just happy shooting anything that's in sight. I didn't know what to ask except to convince him I am not going to rob his spanking new Leica confirm it's indeed a Leica D-LUX 4 with the hard-to-find 24mm bright view finder. I have some problem shooting with just the LCD monitor, I need a viewfinder and I guess he has the same problem too. Leica, good job for selling a $349.95 viewfinder as an accessory (yes, I wrote it right and you read it correctly, the viewfinder itself sells for $350 minus a nickel). I need some AIG kind of bonus. Now.

April 8, 2009 UPDATE:
Sorry guys. I do not own or use any D-LUX 4 ... The lack of viewfinder is just another general complaint from your usual whiner here.

Fixed Focal Length Rangefinder

When you shoot with a fixed focal length rangefinder, chances are you won't use the wrong focal length at all. And the operation is smooth, as the camera doesn't have a mirror to slap up and down and you can always see what's going on through the finder minus the parallax shortcoming. I think I'd like the quiet operation. I like my FE but the sometimes thundering thud of the mirror can be a bit disconcerting even though I don't see any apparent negative on the print, perhaps I never ever print big, more like a psychological problem to me.

Good Night

Good night.

Random Musing: Little Reunion

Chang says with ominous accuracy that "only people who don't have a life are interested in others' private matters." It's with this voyeur's mentality that I proceed to read Chang's posthumous Little Reunion.

Little Reunion is Chang's catharsis to bring closure to part of her tumultuous life. In so doing, it's almost impossible to distinguish whether Chang is writing herself or writing a fictional character, Shing Gau Lei, who is by and large, in Chang's agent and confidant Stephen Soong's words, "unconventional" and "unsympathetic," just like Chang herself. Fiction is all about human experiences. Chang documents her life in every minute detail possible: from infant to a ghastly abortion with the fetus ended up flushing down the toilet. And in between, some wild sex that includes "carpet munching" and vigorous thrusts that are cervix crushing.

When she was an infant, she prefers to be fed with a china spoon to a steel spoon that inexplicably leaves certain fishy metallic aftertaste which doesn't sit well with her fine palate. This is a quiet harbinger to her impeccable taste and at times irritating sensibility which can easily guarantee her a lifetime of unhappiness. In the course of reading her loveless lonely upbringing in the big family, I can't help but see certain parallel in Chang's description to that of the Dream of Red Chamber: the impending collapse of the old, the decay of the filthy rich, the incestuous relationships within the family, right down to the wet dream of his own brother. Chang saves the most harshest revelation to herself. Gau Lei or herself is amoral when it comes to love. Often time, she sounds like she prefers the war never ends, placing her own interest above that of her own countrymen (she sees herself an outsider no matter where she is). Knowing her first love and probably the only love of her life, Shiu Chi Yung (Hu Lancheng in real life) is married doesn't stop her from beginning the relationship. Nor the fact that he works for the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War. And not even when she discovers Shiu is a serial womanizer who seems to have an insatiable and uncontrollable appetite for women and sex even or especially in dire times. Many years after their relationship ended, Chang can no longer think of Hu's name but still knows the feeling--her innards are like boiling, her whole body is like on fire, the waves of pain only recedes after a few rushing up the body; the lady may be just experiencing hot flashes during menopause and yet she romanticizes it and attributes it to Hu. Her relationship with Hu may not be what the readers like but this is how she honestly feels about Hu and this is how she lives as a human being and she as a writer likes to share her private matters in all their glory with all those who are willing to learn about life.

I like the non linear narrative of the book. Life is fragmented and so is memory. The structure of the novel just reflects that. Chang picks up pieces of her life bit by bit, and fastidiously arranges them for the world to see. Right on the very first page, Chang is telling us how it's going to be done: the narrative is present, then fast forward to the future then back to the present. And in the end, Chang brings everything full circle, ending the story where it all begins, echoing the exact same sentences. It sends chills down on my spine when I read the very last page.

Weekend Box Office

Duplicity starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owens is no match to Knowing, probably yet another stupid movie from Nicolas Cage; the National Treasure series is such a snooze fest, so I am holding his recent film record against him. But no matter, we just need to escape from this financial clusterfuck that we are in and there is no better movie than a movie like Knowing. Like I said before, there is such a problem with marketing an adult movie like Duplicity, you just don't know what to market despite the hotness of the actors. Or is the star system long gone in Hollywood? Seventeen year olds just don't care that much about Julia Roberts. Roberts couldn't open the movie this past weekend, bummer.

top three box office
1, Knowing
2, I love you, man
3, Duplicity

Free At Last

Have a great weekend everybody.

In Brogues

I bought the DVD on sales when Circuit City went belly up. Seeing Collin Farrel in it doesn't give me a lot of confidence, but at the same time, Ralph Fiennes seems to be able to put in a good performance no matter what. To my surprise, I was able to enjoy this movie on my 22" 1680x1050 LCD down in my basement.

<Spoiler Alert>
Ken, played by the affable Brendan Gless, and Ray, played by bad boy Collin Farrel, are a couple of hit men who work for Harry, a mildly psychotic maniac deliciously played by the always reliable Ralph Fiennes. Ken was put into a conundrum as he was asked by Harry to put away Ray after he accidentally killed a boy on the job. Of course, life has its irony and Harry should have known better. Shit happens, and it can certainly happen on a hit. Harry is a man of honor, the peculiar kind, and expects the same from his men. He practices what he preaches and adheres to his own code of conduct right to the very end.
</Spoiler Alert>

I think one of the problems about the movie is I don't even remember it playing in the theater. I don't know how it does in the box office but I certainly think it's a movie that can present a challenge to the marketing department. It's not a big budget action movie, it's not a comedy per se, it's not a teenage horror movie. Collin Farrel and Ralph Fiennes aren't any stranger to the North American audience but they aren't movie stars that can open any movie. And director Martin McDonagh is not an household name at all.

As an aside, I think Duplicity might have some trouble in the marketing department. Is it a romantic comedy where Ms. Roberts showcases her infectious laughters? Or is it an action movie where Owens shows off his phyical prowess? The movie poster seems to suggest neither. It's not like I can pigeonhole the movie in five seconds. But the only review I read today from the Times is overwhelmingly positive; it's a high gloss smart romantic comedy set in contemporary corporate world. I guess I have to see it to believe it. Roberts and Owens can be good. It's interesting to see how Roberts does in a movie leading role again after spending the past few years playing supporting roles on screen when she was too busy being a wife and a mother in real life.

Snow In March

There is a Chinese saying, if there are flurries in June (六 月飛 霜), there must be some great injustice. So what's with this March flurries happening in NYC? It must be because of the Wall Street bonus as usual. So what's with the 90% tax on the bonus? It's still good, you are getting $1,000,000 for free to begin with, and now you still get $100,000 for a job well done, i.e. running the company to the ground and ruining capitalism. This is Congress knee jerk remedy to allay the public outrage to the absolutely incorrigible self-serving and totally loathsome Wall Street behavior. I will take the 10% in a heart beat. Alas, I didn't ruin any company nor the global financial system, no bonus for me.

Dahlia-Like Turban

The dahlia-like turban is decidedly whimsical, together with the sandals over socks, sandwich the rather masculine monochromatic garb in the middle, making the whole more interesting than the sum of its parts.

Random Musing: Little Reunion

This my musing on Little Reunion. There are many like it but this one is mine.

This can be called Memoir Of A Writer As The Last Chinese Aristocrat. But of course, the name Little Reunion is so much better. In the end, there is no reunion not even a little one. Irony is still alive and so well preserved in Chang's work. This is a no-holds-barred autobiography of her life from childhood to her late twenties. And I have to say this is the bomb. And I can't help but think how could Ang Lee be so prescient when he directed Si Jie which was based on Chang's same name short story, with added explicit sex scenes that couldn't be found in the original work? Apparently Lee was way ahead of us, seeing what we couldn't see in Chang. My hunch of all the explicit sex scenes in both Chang and Lee's works are a way of a clear fuck-you and liberation arising from the protagonist's indignation toward her life and time in general. And to a certain extent, humans are just animals without furs.

How Do People See One Another

How do people (more like computer nerds) see one another computerwise.

Here is a picture matrix depicting how fanboys of Mac, PC, and Linux see one another. It's mildly offensive. 18+ and view at your own risk. May not be work safe.

Consumerism

Another computer after Sony that promises you can stick it up in your behind.

Photo via Engadget via Electronista. I am just recycling news here.

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Right before lunch…
“Okay,” said Mr. Bob, “take out your homework.” “I didn’t do it!” blurted out Jack. “EEEK!” screamed almost everyone in the classroom. “You stop that!” yelled Mr. Bob. “Next time, raise your hand!” Mr. Bob took note that Jack did not do his homework. “One more time you call out you are going to be in serious trouble!” said Mr. Bob. As you can see, Jack has issues with calling out. “Sheesh!” thought Jack. “Mr. Bob, you aren’t following the three strikes and you are out rule! You are only giving me two chances!” called out Jack. “EEEK!” screamed almost everyone in the class. “You scared me!” screamed someone. The three strikes and you are out rule is if you disobey rules three times you get into trouble. “I’m going to contact your parents!” said Mr. Bob firmly. “Darn!” shouted Jack. “AHH!” screamed almost everyone in the class. Mr. Bob glared at Jack. “Calm down class,” said Mr. Bob. “Now let’s go over homework.” RING!

The same day at lunch…
Jack was minding his own business when Mr. A made an announcement. “Boys basketball tryouts are tomorrow!” Sam knocked Jack’s friend, Andrew, aside. “Hey!” said Andrew. “So you are trying to make it to the team?” asked Sam. “Yeah,” said Jack. “Me too,” said Andrew. “I’m not talking to you!” shouted Sam. “Didn’t have to yell,” said Andrew. “Tryouts are tomorrow,” said Sam. “And you are going down wimp!” Jack, Sam, and Andrew were ready for the next day.

All of a sudden, Jack remembered last year…
“Jack!” yelled Andrew. “What?” asked Jack. “Did you know that people on the team get lunch early?!” “Awesome!” exclaimed Jack. Both of them tried out but didn’t make it. Sam had told them they were wimps!

After Jack had a good rest, he got to school. At lunch the next day… “Tryouts, line up!” yelled Mr. A. Jack had gotten lunch early that day. He was full of energy. He had practiced hard in the summer. The line went into the gym. LATER … When Jack returned, he came running into the classroom door. WHAM! Jack opened the classroom door and got in. “I’m innnn!” he screamed. Teachers looked at the classroom. “Calm down!” scolded Mr. Bob. In a kinder voice, Mr. Bob said, “Congratulations Jack. Now who else in this class is in the team?” Sam and Andrew raised their hands. “Good job!” said Mr. Bob. “Jack, if you don’t improve your behavior, you will not be on the team!” “What!” exclaimed Jack. “But he’s the best!” said Andrew. “I’m the best you fool!” shouted Sam. Sam shoved Andrew. A bunch of kids laughed. “Silence!” screamed Mr. Bob. “Sam and Jack go to the principal’s office now! As if now, you two aren’t on the team! And if you call out again Andrew you are kicked off too!” “Ooooh!” said a bunch of kids. Sam and Jack nervously went into the office.

At, In, And Outside of the Office…
The secretary told them to sit down and wait. Sam and Jack were sweating like crazy. Sam didn’t dare to shove Jack because the secretary was watching. “Jack, you can go in now,” said the secretary. Jack went in.
“Okay Jack. I’m going to make you a deal. If you behave very well, I’m going to put you back on the team and give you some cookies as a motivation,” said Mr. Bay. “It’s a deal!” said Jack.
Sam played with his fingers. When the door flew open, Jack ran out. “What happened?” asked Sam. “I’m going to get cookies!” replied Jack as he ran back to his class. “What!” thought Sam. “Sam, your turn,” said the secretary. Sam confidently walked in. He was going to ask Mr. Bay for a cookie as soon as he got in…

Back in class … Mr. Bob had informed bad behavior to the gym teacher on the phone.

A week later…
Jack had improved his behavior since he had made the deal. He really tried to raise his hand. Meanwhile, Sam got into a little trouble for asking for cookies. But he and Mr. Bay had made the same deal as Jack. Both boys were working hard. And then, the moment they were waiting for came. Cookies! Mr. Bay had given them chocolate chip cookies for their good behavior. Plus, Mr. A and Mr. Bob let them stay on the team. “Whew! I thought you wouldn’t be on the team anymore man!” said Andrew. Andrew and Jack high-fived. “Sorry I called you two wimps,” said Sam. “It’s okay,” said Jack and Andrew.

Another week later…
Game! PS901 Killers (Jack’s team) versus PS736 Twisters
PS736 had the ball. The kid who had the ball tried to pass over Sam. Sam jumped up and caught the basketball. Andrew was open near the half court line. Sam passed the ball to Andrew. Andrew saw that Jack was the only one open. 5, 4… the score was 18-19 PS736 leading. Andrew passed to Jack. 3, 2… Jack shot the ball near the foul line. 1- BZZZ! Swish! The killers had won! 20- 19! “We won!” screamed Mr. A. Everybody on the team high-fived. Jack, Sam, and Andrew couldn’t wait to go back to school and tell everyone.

NOTE: Guest blog, not written by me.

16 Things About My Blog

1. Before there was blog, there was personal homepage. I thought I was going to rule the world with my personal homepage. It didn't happen.
2. Then came blog. I set up mine in 2004. I thought I was going to rule the world with my blog. It didn't happen.
3. Two is not a trend yet. So there is still a chance I will rule the world.
4. My posts speak for themselves. They are just the greatest.
5. There are certain posts I like better than others.
6. Some of the posts even the recent ones, now looking back, I wonder where I got the energy to write them as much a genius as I am, they don't come easy at all.
7. I not only post pictures of my kids but myself, just so I am at least fair even I totally deprive my readers' imagination.
   
8. My blog has a very small but devoted group of readers. They all have one thing in common, very interested in PacAir Range hood.
9. I don't have a lot of comments so I tend to reply them pretty timely, actually compulsively.
10. I deleted comments before. I didn't particularly enjoy doing it but I did it anyway. I blame the commenter. If I did the deletion then it's totally cool because it's inevitable if others do that to me then it totally sucks.
11. I think people who disable comments are cool. And people who enable comments but never reply them are even cooler. I am neither because I am not cool.
    
12. The thought of learning to compose and post in Chinese did come across my mind. But I don't think it's going to happen.
13. I feel mildly inadequate as nobody has stolen any of my posts or pictures before. Sometimes I read some bloggers complain their posts got stolen or got totally ripped off by newspapers without attribution. <Sour Grapes>I feel bad for those bloggers but at the same time I was like man those people or newspapers who allegedly steal really have very questionable literary taste; of all the articles out there why from this XYZ, or ABC? Plagiarism is bad but poor incompetent plagiarism is just pathetic.</Sour Grapes> If my posts ever got stolen, I think that would be the end of civilization as we know it.
    
14. I wish I can write better.
15. Wishful thinking never helps.
16. I've got to read more.
17. Like real books.
18. Not just any blogs.
19. Less is more is a lie.
20. More is more.
21. OKAY, Good night.
22. And one more thing, thank you for all the bloggers who have been an inpiration to me.
    

Topic from wordx3

A Cold Day In The Park

It's not the bitter cold, it's the glaring sunshine slanting on their faces, blinding them.  I annoyed them more by insisting them to stay still, eyes opened, looking right into the lens and the sun while I clumsily composed and fiddled with the focus.

A Day In The Park

Untitled

The more I look at these two, the more I like them. They really grow on me. I love my pictures, I just do.

Apple iPod Shuffle

I was just going to check out for a potential iPod purchase then I was greeted with the new iPod Shuffle. It's so small that is big. It's so small that is beautiful, it's so small that you are going to lose it, it's so small that they can't put control on the thingy itself. Anyway, the control is on the cord, so that means you can't use any other earphones? That could be possible. And it has this technology called VoiceOver that guarantees to leave you speechless, it is multilingual (Mandarin, no Cantonese support), and can speak playlists and whatnot. I suspect the technology is probably originated and derived from the visually impaired. This little 4GB contraption is selling for $79.

Untitled

Ubuntu 8.10 64 Bit

I wonder if anybody can shed some light on running Ubuntu 8.10 (or 8.04) in 64 Bit. My plan is to run Cinelerra and Kino. I don't know if it's going to be too much of a pain (though I can almost feel it already, I could have bought a Dell or a Mac, but I am such a masochist). My excuse for a possible new system is so hardware won't be holding me back to be the greatest one man movie maker ever. My preferred or compromised video format is the going to be HDV, I think. I have researched online for a day or so, and I couldn't find a lot of timely information. If anyone has experience, please drop me a few lines. Much appreciated.

Random Musing: Little Reunion

I like Eileen Chang, because she had chicken feet handwriting. She must have eaten plenty of chicken feet. It's comforting to see a literary giant with chicken feet penmanship like hers.

The fact that she was from Shanghai and from a very well-to-do family easily makes her kind of feeling superior (or some might consider downright snobby). As a general principle, she has a healthy disdain for most of the people she comes across. Most of the Southerners, like local Hong Kong people she describes are flat faced, loud, all in all just plain ugly inside and outside. Once I looked past that, I was able to enjoy her writing. Or wait, I still have to "put up" with the English names written in Chinese. Because of the time and setting of the story, many of her characters have English names and they are transliterated in Chinese; I can't help but try to figure out what they really are: Bibi, Andrews, Audrey and so on and so forth. I have no doubt some names I thought are English in origin are indeed Chinese to begin with. It takes some efforts to get used to those names in their Chinese incarnations. Also her prose is pretty much Anglicized which isn't necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. The narrative jumps around a bit. Right off the bat on the very first page, it's present , then a quick fast forward, then back to present. Sometimes, it's fun and sometimes not so much, you just have to re-read it in order to form some narrative coherence.

Special Announcement

Hong Kong is now 12 hours ahead of New York City.

Trend

What's the trend of otherwise beautiful people wear decidedly uncomplimentary eyeglasses? Is it a revolt to chic or a tribute to uber photographer Terry Richardson?

A Sad Day For All The Pirates

As of March 2, The Pirate Bay brought to you by our Swede brothers is down, probably a result of a DDoS attack purported by the IFPI as reported in Wiki. Meanwhile the owners are on trial for all kinds of copyright infringements. I guess people looking for torrent trackers have to look elsewhere.

While the pirates in France thought they had the green light from the French court to sell the two looted bronze heads during the Opium War in 1860 in Saint Laurent's posthumous garage sale, the Chinese were not going to just do nothing. In a "patriotic" move, a Chinese man Cai Mingchao submitted the highest bids to Christie's for the heads and won. But Mr. Cai now says he is not going to pay up for his winning bids, a total of some $40 millions with commission included. So the message is screw you, France, Mr. Berge and Christie's. Mr. Cai runs the risk of getting negative feedback from Mr. Berge ... oh sorry it's not ebay.

Meanwhile the pirate brethren in China aren't faring any better. As reported by the New York Times, lawyers representing the likes of Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Burberry are coming down hard on the mall owners who allow shops to sell counterfeits in their properties. Many stalls selling super-A merchandise, knockoffs that are so good that they are on par or even better than the real things, are forced to close. But our Chinese pirates won't just go away quietly, instead they unite to pose a counter-attack against the lawyers and mall managers representing those Western interests, demanding an apology and essentially their right to pirate those craps from France, Italy, Great Britain and whatever brands that can sell. They are saying if the French can sell looted Chinese artifacts, it is only fair that they can pirate their Louis Vuitton bags. (I totally made that up, I think what some vendors are saying that it's unpatriotic for the lawyers to come down on them when they are just trying to eat.)

Oh, brother. The world of piracy couldn't be more interesting.

Snow Day

Special Announcement: New York City Public Schools are all closed due to severe weather condition.

Holy cow, I think my pictures are just breath taking.  If you disagree, you are just wrong.

I Am Stimulated

I am so stimulated I finally got on a DVD and CD buying spree at Circuit City when they are all 70% off on every awful movie or CD ever produced by human kind. The biggest loser and by my definition and observation is Will Smith's twin double failures. They were such an eye sore, plenty of "I am Legend" and "Hancock" can still be found on racks along with Jodi Foster's good girl turned vigilante "The Brave One." The Dark Knight and any Pixar movies are nowhere to be found. I like Will Smith and Jodie Foster but their new movies just don't quite live up to my expectation.

This Week In Controversy

Just when you thought that the photogate, which mesmerized and provided daily fodder for the better part of early 2008, is over and life is boring again, Cecilia Cheung hit you with a 300 pound interview that promises the controversy to live on. Probably infuriated or at least disturbed by Chen's latest publicity tour or so called trial in Canada and his incessant pleads to the media to let the girls stand up again, Cheung finally speaks up. With a touch of make-up, slicked back hair, and a black and white checkered pillow-collared sweat shirt that not only makes her look good but also promises a good sleep in any cross Atlantic flight, Cheung basically calls Edison Chen a hypocrite and questions his new found Christian faith. As expected there are moments of choked-ups and tears. And over all, Cheung comes across as strong, responsible and above all just another ordinary Hong Kong girl who can't quite pronounce the word "I" correctly. She has a loving husband and families that stand by her during the most trying time of hers. Instead of blaming on Chen and the media, she owns up her mistakes and emphasizes it was never the fault of the media but only Chen and hers. (Which is in sharp contrast to a certain Ngai and Chow couple who issued the stupidest press releases to blame the gutter press and everybody else for their pathetic existence.) The media are going to love Cheung even more and for good reasons.

If for some reason you think Cecilia Cheung or the photogate is so passe so 2008 and so vulgar, then perhaps another Cheung (or Chang), that is Eileen Chang may capture your elitist imagination. Chang who died in 1995 never leaves the minds of her fans death or alive. Her private secluded life and ultimate death only add to her allure. Her novel named Little Reunion which was completed in 1976 finally got published in 2009, thirty three years after its completion and fourteen years after her death. The publication, to some, is not meant to happen, as her will* stated that "Little Reunion" is to be destroyed. As a blogger, that's the irresponsible kind, I have not sourced any evidence except other blog posts like from Chang's estate administrator Roland Soong's. My opinion as a reader is let's publish it. I believe Chang would like to see it published too. I can't imagine doing otherwise, that's, a major work by one of the most popular if not greatest modern Chinese writers got destroyed per her will. Plus I think her works acquire the kind of importance that they basically have a life of their own and in some way, most likely not legal, they really belong to the public. To destroy Little Reunion is unthinkable.

*updated 3/2, further blog reading suggests that wasn't actually in her will, so who knows.

Update 3/20, Roland Soong updated his blog with the Chang's "Last Will And Testament" which made no mention of destroying "Little Reunion." People want to believe what they want to believe. From day one, I think to destroy "Little Reunion" is unthinkable.

Chinese Gourmet Takeout

The gourmet part is a stretch but I like to exaggerate. Sometimes we order take out or take away from them. I think they might have changed owners. The food has been reasonably good. I couldn't find their old menu so I looked it up online and found their website which is actually better than a lot of websites out there. It has three JPEGs showing the special, the menu in both English and in Chinese. Simple and effective. The food should be here in fifteen minutes or so.

Free At Last

Got to Go.

My 16 Things About Photography

1. As a kid, I enjoyed making faces when being photographed, by a family friend who shot with a TLR.

2. My family's first camera was probably an Agfa. It came with a beach carry-all bag. Beach and camera that was the idea.

3. I bought a Ricoh SLR in middle school. I don't know where it is now. I was inspired by an Uncle Ng in middle school. It's all his fault.

4. I bought a Nikon FE with a 50mm f1.4 later before me and my friends took a trip to Beijing by train. I still use it. Over the years, I bought a 35~105mm f3.5~4.5, 24mm f2, and a MD-12 motor drive.

5. I used it in a college photography class. My professor was frankly impressed with my knowledge in anything photography. She was good. I knew everything I needed to know about photography already except the darkroom bit. That was my ego talking. My friend ghorse and most other people know much more than me. I am just too lazy.

6. The camera survived a car crash on Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. I got the camera and lens fixed in HK, thanks to my brother. The lens was left with a big scar on the barrel but works just as smooth.

7 With passive aggressive tactics, I broke down my wife to finally buy me a Nikon F5.

8. I did not even use it with an AF lens until much later.

9. Basically I used my F5 like once a year during Christmas and New Year times. Now I don't even actually use it.

10. I bought a Coolpix 990 together with a fish eye add-on.

11. I broke it or it died on me. Anyway it's gone for good.

12. Then I got a Canon G3, I still use it.

13. Then I got my Nikon D70, Nikon's major success in the pro-sumer DSLR space. I think it's very nice even to this day except "excessive" noise in shadow area by today's standard.

14. I can't keep up with this digital revolution.

15. I am all behind in Photoshop and whatever editing skills essential.

16. I bought a Yashica Mat-124 G and started in earnest in medium format. OKAY, not so earnest.

17. Then I got myself a Hasselblad 500C/M with the 80mm lens. It isn't perfect but it works.

18. I admire photojournalists especially war time photographers. They are crazy people who are ready to die on their job. I think women dig them too.

19. I got "published" once. It wasn't a big deal at all, it was just some reader's submission. I think the publication sent me some voucher, I put it inside a desk drawer otherwise known as the mess and somehow it just got lost.

20. The award winning picture was a picture of my friend at the Hong Kong tram station next to a mirror column showing him and his reflection. The editor was impressed how steady my hand was given that it was hand-held at a slow shutter speed. But he missed my point totally: the duality and twisted personality of my friend.

21. That was it. I had reached the pinnacle of my photographic Everest. From that point on, everything went downhill.

22. Pictures look better with me behind the camera. Not because of my aesthetics or technique because I wasn't in the picture.

23. I know my pictures are boring.

24. I mess up all the time.

25. I thought I loaded up my Yashica Mat-124 G, but I didn't. So I have been pretending shooting around town for the past few days.

Inspired by Michelle (not the mess up parts)

State Of The Union Address

Basically it's uplifting. Nancy Pelosi is the biggest and probably the oldest cheerleader in Congress. She pretty much stood and applauded on every line Obama delivered. But I don't hold it against her, the President did what he does best: talking big. The problem is can he deliver? Or do all the plans work? Or more importantly, do I benefit? Personally I want a stimulus plan for myself too, like a plan to redo my kitchen with a Viking range and a Sub-zero fridge.

I am surprised a lot of folks were asking for the President's autograph as he found his way out of the chamber after the speech. I fully expect to see his autograph on ebay now as the economy is so bad members of the Congress will no doubt have to auction off his autograph. I was thrilled to see Clarence Thomas who was famous, allegedly, for accusing someone putting pubic hair on his can of coke; perhaps his most enduring legacy, that's all I can remember of him, which sadly speaks volumes what a person I really am.

The Republican response or rebuttal or prepared speech as delivered by Louisiana's Bobby Jindal could not be more freaky. I mean not the content per se but the guy's persona as coming through the TV. I wouldn't be comfortable sitting with the guy in the same room, not that it's going to happen ever.

Affordable And Reliable Gas Range

I am just wondering what's the most reliable stand alone gas range and oven out there that's somewhat affordable and last a lifetime if you so choose. What I have now is a gas standalone oven with a 4-head range stove top and does a reasonable good job. I never ever need to service that except the two front burners don't light up that well and very rarely the pilot lights may go out. Other than that it has been faultless. What I am afraid of the new ones are they won't last a year without sinking in a boatload of time and money for parts and repairs. I am willing to blow away like $1,000 max with tax and installation just to help the American economy.

Miscellaneous Rip Off From The NYT

While your money continues to burn, the economy on life support, and the stock market brought us back to 1997 level, the rich and famous were spending a record of $264 million on the first day of Yves Saint Laurent's posthumous garage sale. All those artifacts from the past were selling at record breaking prices so far, with the exception of a Picasso. So the rich are still insanely rich and immune to this god awful economic downturn. Just don't expect to find a $49.99 polo shirt at the garage sale. I read somewhere long time ago that some guy admires Mr. Saint Laurent for his eponymous YSL polo shirt, I guess Mr. Saint Laurent would be flattered . . . or rolling in his grave should he learn that he was remembered for some polo shirt made by franchisees. One of the more interesting reportage from the hyperlinked article is that Mr. Saint Laurent's long time partner Mr. Berge, at 79, clearly spoke his mind when he refused to hand back two of the controversial artifacts to China acquired through legitimate purchases but were originally looted from China. When you are that independently well-off and at that age, I guess he can afford to speak his mind without fear, unlike Christie, the auction house that orchestrates the auction.

Random Movie Review

In a bid to save the economy only an American knows how to, I consumed. I descended to Circuit City like a predator looking for preys and finally made two big ticket kills or purchases, that's for 2 DVDs originally selling for $24.99 and $21.99, now after 50% off, they were miraculously and mercifully sold for $11 each. Surprise. They are Indiana Jones, Kingdom of Crystal Skull and Wanted. I honestly don't know which one is worst. Perhaps Crystal Skull I think. I actually have no problem of it "nuking the fridge." I mean it's a fantasy movie after all. The bigger problem is the story taken as a whole just lacks momentum, it's like who cares. Maybe I have grown up and the franchise hasn't. I remember I was unbelivabley entertained by the first one when it first came out in 1981. I thought Gee, this movie is genre defying, it has everything, minus the porn. As a kid I was really seriously fascinated by the movie magic that was Spielberg and Lucas, there were just so many memorable scenes. By comparison, the Crystal Skull is just underwhelming and destined to be remembered as the worst one of the trilogy.

I remember I also enjoyed The Matrix tremendously but that was light years ago. With Wanted, you got bullets that can curve instead of dodging bullets. So there is hardly anything new except the patricide bit. But that isn't really a great plot twist anyway. Basically it's just another movie to showcase Angelina Jolie's well endowed (or overdeveloped) lips and breasts. James McAvoy is a looker and does a decent job as would be assassin Wesley Gibson. But overall it's just an average action movie with a sophomoric philosophical message like what have you done with your boring life that kind of existential silly question only a 17 year old pimple face can ask.

Seriously, I think I should give up on action movies. Just stick to dramas.

Oscar

Fashion Week New York done. Oscar Award done. What happened to Brangelina? Well, it's official now, the Academy doesn't like Brangelina. Ben Button didn't get no love despite it has like a thousand nominations breaking all records or something. I have been living under a rock, I have not seen any one of the award winning movies, at all.

Ritz Losing Its Glitz

Going Strong! Like How?

Ritz is losing its glitz. To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the company is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What a way to celebrate. The company is owing Nikon some 26.6 millions, wow, that's a lot of Nikon D3X there. Personally I have never shopped at any one of their stores, online or not.

As reported by bizjournals.com and pdnonline.com.

Ubuntu And Flash Finally Work Together

This has been long plaguing my system from day one. In the beginning when it was at its very worst, it could actually bring down the browser, yes, the plugin actually brought down the browser. Then things got a bit better since Firefox 3 and Flash 9 onward, only the plugin went crazy, like totally gobbled audio, without bringing down the browser. But still, almost all web sites unfortunately use some form of Flash to pretty up themselves, sometimes to make up for lack of contents. So without a working Flash plugin, my Linux box is greatly handicapped. That's until today when I got some time in hand and did another search to solve this issue. Some of the resolutions, you just knew are basically mid wife's tale with no technical sophistication or merit like you call the help desk, the guy on the other end keeps telling you it's your fault or you have been playing with the computer and his sole resolution is to ask you to reboot the machine a hundred times.

OKAY enough of my bull. Here is the real McCoy for fixing this perennial problem.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900 Apparently it has something to do with PulseAudio. "Apparently" that is after 20/20 hindsight. psyke83 is a genius and he or she is from Ireland. I just followed the instructions and now I can play all the Youtube video without problems. There are still great people out there.

A Couple of Pictures

Two photographs taken some time ago. The pictures have certain poignancy that I like.

Random Musing

I like to waste time on my own term not dictated by somebody else like in the Post Office. I was waiting in one post office and the line was moving at a glacial speed pre-global warming. I couldn't stand it. I have absolutely no patience for any line poorly organized. People waited at the wrong line because of poor direction on the part of the post office, people couldn't fill out any form correctly because they are just too dumb. I just walked out and drove another 15~20 minutes to another post office where things were much better, like the line was actually moving and there weren't any crazy people there except me. Overall the time I spent to get the things I needed done might be the same if I were to wait in the first post office but I like to waste time on my own term.

Valentine's Day

To all the singletons out there, congratulations.  Because you don't have to feel pressured to do anything to express your love to anybody in any god awful way as crass merchants intended to.   You don't have to act like an absolute idiot to buy a big bouquet of flowers so your loved one doesn't feel like she is being left out.  You don't have to spend a night at some restaurant where you can't pronounce the names of its entrees, at least not correctly.  You can just go to see whatever movie you like all by yourself, with like-minded people around in a theater or in the comfort of your abode of course, without compromising your viewing pleasure and artistic integrity.  Go check out Friday the 13th and Gomorra because these are the movies a man should watch not some chick flicks.  Friday the 13th is probably shitty but that's what a man needs.

However if you must celebrate Valentine's Day, keep it simple.  I mean let's get back to the true meaning of the Day (like as if I really know what it's about) ....

Valentine's Day

New York Fashion Week

Random Picture

Stimulus Package

Obama's fledgling administration wants to make sure that we got sufficiently stimulated with this giant package of $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 billion dollars. I can't wait to get seriously overly stimulated.

Timmy got off on the wrong foot when he made his debut yesterday. And Wall Street hated him. With hatred, they accused the back tax payer is a man without a plan. Wall Street needs a life line, a good detailed rescue plan. Lacking such a plan, the Dow nose dived 2,000 points. Let's see what's going to happen tomorrow.

The Elephant

Aravind Adiga is at it again. Same place, very similar story, it almost reads like a prequel to its much acclaimed and award winning debut The White Tiger. The protagonist Chenayya in The Elephant is a cart puller who seems just like the father of Balram Halwai in The White Tiger. The story has the obligatory man shitting in the open, and to top it off, it has a plum prostitute doing her trade in the open got smeared with cow dung, so bad that the dung got all over her face and into her mouth. So Adiga has a fondness to use animal names as his book or novel titles. I surmise the title The Elephant is an allusion to the stupendous injustice in India.

The Elephant is full of youthful angst and indignation. Just like The White Tiger, except it's much shorter. It appears in The New Yorker.

Wozniak Can Dance

Steve Wozniak is going to be on Dancing With The Stars. Woo hoo.

via Macrumors.

情人

Weekend Shopping.

Like a vulture preying on the dying and the dead, I descended on a Circuit City store hoping to find something I don't need but want at a bargain basement price. Was there any Blu-Ray players left, no. There were still racks and racks of DVDs and CDs. But they were hardly selling at a bargain even factoring in the 30% off store closing discount. A Dark Knight single disc was selling at more than $21, so at 30% off, it's almost $15. I can easily get the same price from Amazon though I couldn't get instant gratification. Then they had the cameras. I was able to find a Canon G10 on display. I played with it a bit. Despite the mixed reviews on noise and whatnot, I thought the camera is really well-built. It feels very solid and you feel like you can shoot with the thing--no battery couldn't test. But the sales person told me the model was sold out. I wonder if they would sell the floor model and at what price. A spanking new model is fetching around $417 (or $419) from a store in NJ. I ended up buying nothing from them. Perhaps next week they would have 70% off, that would be the time to buy.

Good Morning

I can hear some birds chirping outside in the morning. Can Spring be too far away?

Journey

My mom turned the knob on the electric fan to zero. The fan slowly stopped oscillating and then the four green blades came to a full stop in their quiet majestic way. She picked up one of the white jade magnolia flower buds from the shallow dish and dabbed it behind her ears before pinning it down on the fold of her blouse. I swore I could smell her starched sun dried outfit despite the haunting smell of the magnolia. We were ready to go to the market.

Outside, the sky was cloudless, the mid summer sun was burning and the air was blazingly hot. The flower bud on my mom just bloomed a little when she stepped outside under the sun. Or it was just my imagination. The mud road was cracked and I could almost feel the punishing heat under my slippers. Mom opened her umbrella and tried to pull me under the shade as we walked. Whenever we went to the market, mom would say if I listened to her I would get a soda of my choosing. Invariably I listened to her because she usually said nothing.

We stopped at Fat Kee store on the road side. Inside Fat Kee, there was a table of old people playing mahjong, sipping tea and smoking, just like every other day. With the slow moving overhead fan, the smell of burning tobacco just permeated the entire store. The store keeper was a woman in her fifties, always immaculately dressed. Every time I went to the store she always asked me the same set of questions, how old was I, how did I do at school, and was I a good boy. She gave me a big hug when she saw me and asked me the same questions again. I was painfully shy, even at the urge of my mom, I did not say a single word back to her, just like usual. She picked me up to slide the refrigerator door open. I dipped my hand into the cold water and picked up a Waton's Cola. Sometimes I picked a Green Spot because I knew my mom preferred me to have Green Spot which she thought was healthier. She was probably right, but I liked the fizz of the cola. My mom took a few sips from the bottle and gestured me to take a look at the TV screen. I just witnessed the moon landing on TV. This historical event would have no bearing on my everyday life at all. Except the crass merchants got caught up with this space fever. Months later, my mom bought me a "space jacket"--a puffy parka with a nylon shell and a pair of baby blue "atomic pants"--form fitting leggings like trousers. I wore this ghastly ill fitting outfit to a wedding banquet and I was scarred for life.

It was the Watson's Cola. Before long I needed to relieve myself. We were next to a couple of fish ponds. As usual I said excuse me and my mom said that with me while I was doing my deed on the roadside next to the ponds. I looked up to the sky, the sun was still burning, blinding my eyes.

******

The operating room was frigid, he was shirtless, his teeth clattered uncontrollably. The light above him was so bright that he could hardly see anybody.

He felt strong arms were holding down his feet. But he was calm, his teeth slowly stopped clattering, the tranquilizer was kicking in.

"Mr. Chan. I am sorry, we have to shock you. You are having an arrthythmia."

As he laid there dying, he could only think of the sweet scent of the white jade magnolia flower.

------------

Topic by Stone Ip (Update: I tried leaving a link there twice and a mere comment there once. They all disappered without a trace. His page hated me with a passion.)

And the usual suspects.

MidWeek In Review

Even the New York Times got into this 25 Random thingy. When the Times reported on this, you know the thing is coming to an end soon. So I am glad I was part of this cultural phenomenon or fad. That was the very first time I participated in this kind of modern day chain letter, usually I just filed those chain letters to my garbage. But I took an exception probably that has something to do with the sender and part of it was because it was non threatening--it didn't say if you don't compile then calamities will strike you and your family, that would have pissed me off right away. Anyway for whatever reason, I compiled and did it right away.

The Madoff Ponzi scheme which lost $50 billion is garnering more attention every day. Markopolos, the private securities fraud investigator and star witness to the Congressional hearing, details how basically the SEC is non-functioning and lacks the expertise to investigate securities fraud despite tips presented by Markopolos years before Madoff finally got arrested last year. Markopolos expressed fear for his own life during his investigation on Madoff. I think this is just another example of what a magnificent failure the SEC is. But as far as the Madoff case goes, most of the victims are billionaires to begin with so losing a few millions here and there, they are still multi-millionaires by and large. I really don't worry about their well-being. But of course, Congress being Congress, powerful victims got to be taken of, they got to take care of one another. I think after this financial shitstorm, we are going to have more BS regulations that make the lives of the rank and file more difficult.

Book Review

Lame-O Book Review where you find book reviews at their lamest.  Presented by yours truly with warts and all.

Animal Farm:  I read it when I was in junior high school perhaps.  I couldn't remember half of it.  So I felt like I need to read it again.  I think Molly is an interesting character, all she cares about is her ribbon and sugar.  Who cares about revolution if it takes away my ribbon and sugar.  Molly is the every man.

1984.  Since I read Animal Farm, might as well read 1984.  The middle got a bit long winded when Orwell talked about Oceania and the wars and what Newspeak is.  It's bit complicated but overall I really like how he puts things together.  The story is depressing with a capital D and very intelligent and cerebral.

The Road.  You think there is something going on on the next page, no there isn't.  It's page after page after page of despairs and hungers.  This is just post-apocalyptic at its very worse.  If you've already felt like to kill yourself then don't read it.

Australian Open

The Australian Open came to an end on Sunday. I didn't see the final live and heard the result from radio even before I saw it on TV. But it really didn't hamper my enjoyment of the match, not that much. I couldn't possibly ask for a better final, a re-match between Federer and Nadal, two of the best players around.

Nadal beat Federer in a five set match that wasn't as good as the Wimbledon final but no less entrancing, at least from the perspective of Nadal who beat Federer in both occassions. The Spaniard robbed Federer of tying Pete Sampras 14 Grand Slam titles. Nadal coming in after a 5 set and 100 hours victory against fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, he still looked terribly and terrifyingly fit (Verdasco probably would have won the match if he didn't care too much his hair standing up nice, he never towelled off his oh so styled hair, he cared his hair more than winning the match I suppose.). Federer, dejected and couldn't hold back his disappointments, just sobbed in front of the audience during the Championship Trophy ceremony. But he gathered himself shortly and spoke before Nadal so as not to have the "last word" at the podium. Nadal, always a gentleman, in the cermony, still addressed Federer as the best player ever even he keeps on beating him. I meant that was not only great tennis but great sportsmanship on display. Both men display tremendous talents and grace on and off the court which we come not to expect from most sports nowadays.

25 random things about me

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 24 people to be tagged, plus the person that tagged you (for a total of 25 people tagged in your note). If I tagged you, it's because I think it would be great to know more about you.

To do this, go to "Write Note" on your profile page; paste these instructions in the body of the note; type your 25 random things; tag 25 people by clicking "More Options" at the bottom of the note and fill in the "In This Note" field... then click "Post."

1)  Married

2) Have two boys.

3) I don't shave too often, maybe once a month or so.  Never liked electric shavers.  Always wet shave or no shave.

4) I wear eyeglasses.  I am long sighted in addition to short sighted and having astimatism (read: I am OLD)

5) One of my photographs actually got published in Hong Kong.

6) One of my drawings actually got published in Hong Kong.

7) Both 5 and 6 happened when I was young.  Everything went downhill after I turned 12 or so.

8) Last real book I read "1984."

9) Owned an iBook G3 and thought I was thinking different and cool.  Then it died on me after one year, logic board failure or some shit, got it repaired, then died again.

10) I pay about $7 ~10 for my haircut.  I don't use conditioner.  I don't wash my hair every day, maybe twice a week.  I don't use any hair products except shampoo and a comb.  I don't go to a stylist, I go to a barber.

11) I do shower every day.

12) And change my underwear every day.

13) I wear the same  jeans just about every day and wash them about once a week.

14) I wear size 42 (not my pants size yet, jacket size)

15) I own two Schott 141.

16) I wear Blundstone 550 every day.

17) I like to sharpen my knives.  I like kitchen knives and pans.  They are expensive so I only bought a few like many years ago.  They were honestly made and last forever.

18) I want to buy a Dovo straight razor.

19) I have less than five friends on Facebook.  And one I don't even know personally.

20) I don't IM

21) I don't Photoshop because I don't know how to.  Photoshop is for people who make $300 an hour.

22) I want to get an enlarger to print my own black and white one of these days.

23) I pay $9.75 to develop, proof and scan my 120 films.

24) Using expensive cameras and lenses give me confidence.  I don't have too much confidence.

25) I bought my FE and 50mm f1.4 when I went to Beijing many many years ago.

PS:  the above are pretty random and I try not to censor as best as I can.  I selectively follow the rules.

Originated from Reservation under C&C

Shameful

The Man has spoken. After my blog post earlier in the day, the Man weighed in. The Wall Street bonus is just "shameful," "outrageous," and "the height of irresponsibility." But hey money makes all these unsavory labels oddly tolerable and irrelevant.

Week In Review

I thought today is FridayThursday. But my wishful thinking doesn't quite advance the calendar and someone just reminded me it's only Thursday.

People just start drinking dishwater now. Starbucks is closing some 300 more stores and laying off more people.

I wasn't going to say anything about it because I was too livid to write anything. Still, I couldn't resist. Wall Street is going to pay out some $18.4 billion for 2008 for running the banks and the financial market to the ground. Compared to the $700 billion bailout money, $18 billion is really nothing. Plus more economics stimulus packages are on their way, so fear no more.

Week in Review Continues ...
For the sedentary and senile, their days of watching bad old analog TV are numbered. After February 17, it's going to be digital TV all the way. And a TV without a digital tuner won't be able to receive digital broadcast. If you were too inept to grab the $40 voucher (two for each household!) dished out by the administration to buy one of those digital to analog conversion boxes then you are doomed after February 17. The good news is you can spend more time reading some books or getting online exercising your brain(?) instead of watching TV like a couch potato which most likely just makes you dumber. NOTE: Don't worry about your rabbit ears antenna, it might just work with digital broadcast, don't be a sucker buying "HDTV antenna" or "DTV antenna."

More Week in Review (or rip-off from The New York Times)
Burger King offered you a free burger if you were to remove ten of your friends from Facebook. I would do anything for an artery busting burger but sadly I don't even have ten friends to unfriend in Facebook.

Brothers

Random Picture

Year Of The Ox

After my perennial complaints on lack of coverage of Chinese New Year in The New York Times, the publication finally did the right thing and ran a piece on Chinese New Year titled, fittingly, Year of the Ox Is Looking Inauspicious, with accompanied multimedia content.

Lion Dance

Lunar New Year Dinner

Pizza Time

Random Excellence

No Love For The Press

Pete Souza/White House via Pdnonline.com. Let's do the high five right this time, please.


The administration decided to have a monopoly of its images and shut the press out of Obama's second secretive inauguration oath because the first one was just too embarrassing. As a pre-emptive measure, press photographers and TV crews were not allowed for the occasion just in case Roberts messed up again. That's just bad press and bad decision on the part of the administration.

White House Closes Obama Oath Re-Do To Press Photographers, by Daryl Lang, Jan 22, 2009

Yu Hua

The naturally sanguine, chain-smoking, chatty enfant terrible of contemporary Chinese literature Yu Hua spoke with Pankaj Mishra of The New York Times in an article called The Bonfire of China's Vanities published on Jan 23.

On Zhang Yimou (in defense of him being a sell-out).

"He would have reached the end of his career very quickly had he persisted in making films like 'To Live'."

On China's rising nationalism.

"I am really worried about the new nationalism. Anything slightly critical of China appears in foreign media, and the nationalists are swarming online, attacking it."

On The New York Times, angry youth, Chinese present form of capitalism.

"The New York Times doesn’t criticize China as much as it criticizes America. Basically they are ignorant. They think the American media is always praising American presidents. The problem is that the younger generation hasn’t lived through poverty, collectivism; it is lacking in restraint, its references are very few, the experience is so limited."
"These young nationalists have no sense of ambivalence, no idea of life’s ambiguities. But when times are hard, their attitude will change, become more mature, and because capitalism in this form cannot go on in China, it has to end, those hard times will come soon.”

Full article.