China's Forgotten Revolution

This is another rip-off from the New York Times. The original article published on May 30 was written by Yu Hua as an Op-Ed and was translated from Chinese to English by Allan Barr.

Alan Dye, Photograph by Stuart Franklin/Magnum Photos

抗戰二十年

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the student pro-democracy movement in Tiananman Square 1n 1989. This song though not tailor made for this year's commemoration but is eerily apt and the music video just made it obviously so.

So here it is, the anthem for the 20th anniversary of the student pro-democracy movement.

一無所有

The 1989 student movement anthem.

Tonight Show

I can't believe Leno had been with the Tonight Show for 17 years. I always like Leno's opening monologues and I like Letterman's wackiness. Both of them are pretty entertaining with their unique brand of humors and I hate to beat up one or the other.

I have Conan's debut Tonight Show taped or actually DVR'ed. I like the opening how he ran from NYC to LA to host the show. But things went downhills from there. The monologue wasn't funny, it seems forced. And the guest Will Ferrel, he wasn't all that funny either. He has been doing quite well in the box office and I actually paid for some his DVDs when Circuit City went belly up but still him being a guest on Conan's debut wasn't all that entertaining and complementing. The debut show was a bit contrived and the pacing was a bit slow and a bit over run--the Universal lot tram car thing, the Taurus sedan thing.

Conan O'Brien is wacky like Letterman so let's see how the two square off at the 11:30 time slot.

French Open

The Sex Face of R Fed
Just don't come too soon now, the championship final has yet to come
Photo: Michel Euler/Associated Press. From The New York Times online.

Another Sex Face.
Prematurely Dejected after down two sets

© FFT, from Roland Garros online.

The New York Times print edition has the same article but runs a different perhaps more risque picture which is from Clive Brunskill for Getty. I can't seem to find the print version picture online.

More sex face sightings from our beloved tennis stars.

UPDATE 6/3/09: The FFT picture added seems close enough to the picture ran with the NYT print edition.

French Open

Not to take anything away from the Swede because he, Robin Soderling, did play a great match and was relentless but a French Open without Nadal can't be all that satisfying. I think I am not going to see Nadal's pink tennis shirt anytime soon. I am afraid that shirt might have done him in, making him a bit effeminate, less intimidating on the court. The Swede kept saying Nadal was just another player even he sure is not. Gee, I just took a sneak peek at the Roland Garros site, R. Fed almost got ousted by Tommy Haas. He was down two sets before digging himself out to win the match. All the players are tip top and if you aren't giving 110% on the court then you aren't giving 100%. Any match at this point can easily go one way or the other, no matter if you are number one or number two. Our A. Rod just lost, again. American men tennis is over.

Laodicean

Thirteen year old Kavya Shivasankar from Kansas took home the champion trophy by spelling the word laodicean correctly.

French Open

Nadal, ever since last year, probably under pressure from Nike marketing or something, like more matured perhaps, started wearing more conventional tennis attire. Out were the nobody-will-look-good-in clam digger and the sleeveless muscle shirt, in are the more saleable polo tennis shirt and above the knee tennis shorts. The cutting of both aren't loose like five years ago or from other don't have a clue manufacturers, they are more chest fitting and butt hugging. In this year's French Open, Nadal is outfitted with a hot pink top and a pair of gray shorts complimented with yellow wrist bands and wide tied-on head bands. He's smoking hot on the clay court.

This year, the line person uniform looks pretty horrendous, both man and woman wear gray pants, formless coat and white sneakers.

Alex

The Sixties

I fully expect a revival of anything sixties this summer. Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock is scheduled to release on August 14, 2009.

I Love Gap Again

I haven't done any shopping for a long time. And I really really needed to buy something not for utilitarian purpose (even if I were to buy things out of vanity, I won't admit it). There aren't anything going on in Gap, it's no longer a place you want to go to if you are kind of cheap and kind of fashion conscious, you probably rather go to H&M or other Euro-trashish retailers. However if you are just to buy some basic stuff, then Gap is not a bad choice. I tried on a pair of jeans and gee I thought I must have lost some weight, the waist was so over sized that they actually made you think you are like thin and happy. I think that's what clothings are supposed to do, make you happy by covering up your yucky body which is so abhorrent that not even Oprah or any daytime talk show host can come to its defense. I ended up buying the jeans even they aren't my usual kind of brand. The next day, I went to buy a pair of cargo shorts without trying them on. I think Gap is responsible for America's unyielding obesity trend. I might just sue them for my weight problem one of these days. I guess if I want a reality check, I should check out H&M, clothes there are more true to size, everything is tighter, fitter and slimmer. For now, I am happily wearing my Gap, totally oblivious to my horizontal growth. Ha ha. Let's have BBQ later....

Friday Afternoon

Terminator

I am glad I was able to enjoy the movie. Perhaps I simply expected the worst and it turned out not all that bad at least not as bad as Harry Knowles made it to be. Christian Bale, with zero per cent fat and a seemingly damaged vocal cord plays John Connor the leader of the resistance. Bale is just crazy and crazy good looking. The story is not impressive but then it's not bad. I still couldn't comprehend how John Connor could meet and save his Dad. Isn't there something in the universe to prevent that from happening? Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox or something? As far as summer movie goes, I think it's not all that bad. Plenty of good effects, both visual and audio. In certain scenes, I feel like I was watching The Transformer and still others, one of the three Matrix's triology, which is I think a high praise.

ICP

Cheap Friday. Got to see Richard Avedon's pictures. I can see most of his works online but I decided to have some face time with them. With his contribution to fashion, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the man had helped define the fashion woman for several decades beginning in the mid 50s. His better works are all in black and white. I don't care much about his color pictures, especially those with the skeleton. I just don't see the genius in them. All of Avedon's shots were well choreographed, the models were sometimes ridiculously but always interestingly posed, which are markedly different from many of today's fashion photos--natural lightings and impromptu setups. A must see for those who are into fashion, photography or fashion photography.

Michael Clayton

Library movie DVD review time.

This time is a movie I long avoided simply because I was no fan of George Clooney. I guess to a certain extent which I actually meant totally, it's irrational. How can this good looking man be so popular among women? Right, it doesn't make sense. Well except it does and by viewing this movie I think I have come to accept him as a fine actor with a good look.

What can I say? This is not exactly your typical Hollywood kind of entertainment movie. This is not for 17 years old. This is an adult movie, with adult characters, about human existence, moral dilemma and some shit that adults have to deal with. It's a multi layered, multi faceted and multi threaded story. I think Tony Gilroy did a very fine job in writing the story and telling it on celluloid as a director. Was it a bit self indulgent? You bet it was. I think all self assured writers and directors are self indulgent. I was equally impressed with the second Bourne movie, of which he was the screen writer, the last three minutes when Bourne atoned his sins really gave the character a soul and Matt Damon a chance to showcase his acting chops. Even he was credited as a writer for the third Bourne movie, Ultimatum but according to an article in The New Yorker, he kind of disowned it and never saw it, no wonder it's selling for $5.99 now. I digressed. For some reason Tilda Swinton just looked real and surreal to me. She was all flesh, full sized, at times sweaty, woman in the movie. She is also captivating simply because she is there, with her out of this world look; a screen presence to be reckoned with. Equally impressive are the supporting cast, every single one of them.

I recommend. **** stars, only if you have nothing better to do at night.

Terminator - A Preview

Once in a while you got to watch a movie that changes your life forever. No. I am just kidding. Once in a while you got to watch a movie that you really really like. As I got older and wiser( more like stupider or at least jaded), the frequency of that happening is getting lesser and lesser. The original Terminator was one of those movies that wowed and shocked me. The story was totally ground breaking. The Terminator was relentlessly savage and I just loved him like that. The second one had more gloss and the Terminator aka Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually a good guy. It was different from the first one, but it was still good except it took the edge off Schwarzenegger which I didn't like but reluctantly accepted, he was mellow and humanly. The third one, I don't even remember what happened in the third one I guess that pretty much sums up how I feel about the third one. Now we are having the fourth one coming out today. I wonder if I can get the feeling back when I saw the first one a quarter of a century ago. I won't bet on it but I guess I will give it a shot.

UPDATE:
Harry Knowles of ain't it cool news calls it a flaming turd. Ouch! Seems to me I better watch the original Terminator. See how Arnold, before he was Twins, before he was the Governor of California, he was The Terminator, he was the ultimate unstoppable killing machine who would stop at nothing until he kills them all or get killed.

Big Picture

Scout

Top ten reasons why I wanted to be a boy scout:-

• How to tie all kinds of knots. I am sure the skill can be transferred or spilled over to tie other things. I mean tying papers for recycling.
• I look good in uniform though I despise all organized group activities.
• Go camping in the wood.
• How to start a fire in the wilderness with nothing.
• Play with camp fire.
• BBQ in the wood.
• Peeing and pooping every where, without washing hands.
• Wearing a kerchief around the neck and looks proudly ridiculous.
• Wear drab olive greens and be cheerful.

No 1 reason why I wanted to be a boy scout:-
So I can be a boy scout and bounce on a trampoline.

(My propensity to put out garbage post is relentless and unstoppable)

Bokeh

Personally I think Bokeh is overrated. Sometimes it's just a tired gimmick for those who can afford to buy nice lenses that have an f-stop of 1 or even bigger (or should I say smaller?). For an accomplished photographer like myself, I don't need to resort to these super fast lens.

(Come on god, give me one of those, I am begging you, someone somewhere just gives me one of those, please)

No Love For Love Land

Instead of another stupid Disneyland for dumb kids and miserable parents, Chungqing, China thinks out of the box and has Love Land, an adult theme park that's all about sex and naked bodies.

You have to see it to believe it. The decidedly sexy giant statue, at the entrance of the park, depicts the lower half anatomy of a female body slightly bended over with nothing on except a red G-string. Hot. If you ask me, I think the statue is like another piece of work from Jeff Koon when he is at his very best. To let people see it from faraway and from all angles possible, the sexy legs and bottom masterpiece was placed on top of a rotating pedestal garishly decorated with silk flower some ten feet or so above the ground. Alas, the sexy mannequin's life was short lived. It got torn down and the park won't be opened. I suspect and it won't be too far fetched, the sabotage might have been orchestrated by none other than Mr. Micky Mouse. But thanks to the almighty internet we still can catch a glimpse of its doomed glory on Google. Long live Love Land.

In China, a Sex Theme Park Loses Its Appeal. Reported by Edward Wong on May 18, 2009 on the New York Times. Video and still can be seen from this link (simplified Chinese) as well as inside the NYT article. Sorry, my blog is PG-13, the picture is a bit too risque for my (imagined) audience out there.

Deep Thoughts

Craigslist has been pretty great whether you like to kill or get killed while having sex, or simply want to scam or get scammed.  There is always something for everyone.  Anyway, I used to be able to find some good and reasonable short dated film offers.  But now just forget about it.  Some expired 120 films with a short date around 2003 are asking for $2 or $3 a roll.  What happened to $1 a roll?  I thought the economy is cratering and everything is on sale.  Good film is still ridiculously expensive, a Kodachrome is selling from $8.50 to $12.50 a roll.

Horoscope Explains All Human Behavior, Part II

梁文道是摩羯座，與毛主席同一天生日。冷靜理性的摩羯規律嚴謹，那是梁文道的公共一面。而同時他的上升星座是射手，是人的理性頭腦加上野馬的四蹄，高速往你意想不到之地奔去。 via ESWN

Horoscope is convenient and effective. It just explains everything.

Earlier.

人花爭嫣

I win
Elite Chrome 200. Resized to 1500 wide and increased green 20. An attempt to remove magenta. Photoshop wohoo. It was actually GIMP I can't afford Photoshop.

Dead Man Talking

Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang finally got to tell his side of the June 4 story on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the student movement that began with student protests clamoring for reform and ended violently and tragically with tanks rolling into the Forbidden City in 1989. Twenty years after June 4, and four years after his death, on May 19, a book called "Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang" based on the audio transcript of Zhao's secret memoir will be published by Simon & Schuster.

The New York Times has the story, together with excerpts of the transcript in both English and in Chinese (pdf) as well as the some of the actual audio. Read and hear it yourself.

UPDATE:
The book is available in print but not in Kindle, sorry e-book readers, from Amazon now.
The Washington Post also has the story as noted from one of the book's reviewers, Ian Kaplan on Amazon. Perhaps because of the original Chinese material and the likely intense interest from the non-English speaking Chinese populace, the article has a Chinese version as well.

Horoscope Can Explain Human Behavior, As If

慢慢就不會恨他，我是水瓶座，常常會忘記以前討厭過的人。以後，我會遇到另外一個喜歡的人，我會重新去愛，但一切看緣分安排。-- Copy and paste from an interview of Gillian Chung from mingpaonews.com

Every time I read someone using her or his (his would be much worse) horoscope to explain her behavior or actions, I find it incredibly convincing. Oh that's why. Why didn't I think of it?

Random Thoughts

I don't regret acquiring any of my photographic gears. I regret buying the tripod too late. I find it pretty useful. Though if I were to pay more for some fancy material I could have a lighter leg set. But as it is now, I think I am all right I don't climb any mountain with it. Some of the shots I won't be able to get without a tripod given that I just have steady hands and no VR on any of my lenses.

Sadly, my Nikon F5 and my full frame Nikkor 24-85 AF get least use nowadays. Unlike the D70, which is really a boy's toy, the F5 makes me feel like a manly man.

I like my FE, it's so unobtrusive. In terms of operations, it certainly doesn't obfuscate my "creativity" by giving me 51 focusing points or a bunch of Christmas lights like led indicators. This little machine just gets out of the way.

Well, I want a good point and shoot digital that I can easily carry around (think Ricoh GR II digital or Leica D-Lux or Sigma DP 2). A DSLR or (better and) even a dedicated HD camcorder that can do 1080P. Well the list shall go on and on to infinity and beyond.

DC Pictures

The Street Photographer. Wow, the right way to hold a camera. The D70, so easy, even a 7 year old can use it.

Shutter Life of D70

My D70 shutter has been clicked more than 16,685 times based Opanda Iexif found on my jpeg below.

According to some database I found online, my camera still has a long way to go if I am not unlucky, at least shutterwise.

If I were to shoot film say 135 format, 36 exposures per roll, develop is $8.50, scan is $11.95, and the film itself costs about $6.75 a roll so it comes to about $.75 per frame.

All these years if I were to shoot film, that means roughly $.75 x 16,685 = $12,510. All of a "sudden" the $2,700 D700 seems like a bargain.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Keenu Reeves was just being himself when he played the stone faced alien Klaatu. He had a dead lock on character like that. Jennifer Connelly is, I am afraid, having some sort of a trend in playing scientist in failed sci-fi remakes, years ago it was Hulk, though I personally like it, and now this one. She looks good in her tight fitting soft bomber leather jacket. She wears her long scarf with certain aplomb and without looking too seriously stupid. Her beautiful piercing green eyes convey hurt and compassion. She may not be a great actor but certainly a great looking one.

Somehow I just wished the aliens would have done a faster job annihilating the Earth sooner or at least killing off that annoying whining Benson Jacobs, stepson of Connelly's character Dr. Helen Benson, played by Jaden Smith, an offspring of box office mega star Will Smith. The whole movie is like Reeves size 42L suit, it's kind of good but kind of bland, lacks flair and excitement and just a bit too long.

Bus Drivers Are Evil

Bus drivers are evil. There are two kinds of bus drivers, those who skip the stops and those who don't. The first type is pretty common. The bus is crowded and he skips your stop. Or you are running a red light risking your life stupidly trying to get on the bus, but the bus just pulls out ignoring you. This scenario is pretty common and I certainly can understand. Then there is this sort of self righteous bus drivers who would stop at every freaking bus stop no matter how full the bus already is. I can only fathom what he is thinking. Basically he wants to be in control. He wants to bark at the customers telling them to move back to the rear. Of course there is always some room to squeeze in an extra passenger or two or three or a whole bunch. And he enjoys playing the good guy pitting passengers against one and other and proclaiming he has all day and won't move the bus until he is satisfied. I think this type of drivers are the worse, absolute assholes. It's not like they care, they don't, they can skip the freaking stops but they just enjoy the spectacle. I think they are just as bad as passengers who insist on wearing a back pack on their shoulder in a crowded bus, on sitting on the outside of a two seater, or people who don't move to the back. Or people who man sit. Or people who squeeze in their shoulders ....

More Flowers

Holy cow, I love my D70 and all the lenses I have acquired through the years, old and new. I don't mind getting a D3, D3X or a D700. Or the future full frame with 1080p. I am ready to get them. I am so ready. The above was taken with manual focus with the support of a tripod.

Saturday Soccer

Untitled

Ivo and Lulu

There is no Photoshop here. It's just how our hostess/waitress rolls.

Untitled

The original are much bigger, I resized them to width 1500 pixels before uploading them to Blogger. I think this might be the best scan I ever have, well I paid for it. I won't say I have mastered the 160 NC, but my very limited experience told me that, it's better to err on over exposing than underexposing it. I shot them at the rated 160 ASA and for the most part I guestimated the exposure relying on the f16 rule. For the above shots, I had my Nikon FE with me, so I relied on its meter and exposed those shots accordingly and I have to say I am pretty happy with the results. I don't think I have a lot of 160NC left and I haven't seen any more on Craigslist either. When my supply is gone, I either stop shooting my 120 or I pay retail which is expensive. I paid my expired film around $1 a roll.

Wondering Aloud

Cindy Sherman is an established artist. She is an artist but is she really the photographer of her works? Does she really press the shutter herself? Most of her better known photographic works are self portraits of herself in sort of role playing scenarios. She either focused the camera and set it on a self-timer or or had an assistant to press the shutter for her. She is more of an artist who chooses photographs as a medium than simply a photographer.

The Sun Is Down

The Sun Is Down.

The Sun Is Still Out

It's 4:30 and the sun is still out there. I don't have a camera (with light meter) but I think it's a f5.6, 1/125s at ASA100 kind of lighting situation. That's what I would shoot with anyway.

The Sun Is Out Even More

I am going to create more posts like this. What a loser.

The Sun Is Out

Wow, the sun is out.

Kindle DX

Online juggernaut Amazon just announced its bigger and pricier Kindle DX. The 9.7 inch thingy is asking for $489 a pop and is ready for pre-order. The older 6-inch average sized Kindle is ready to ship for a $359. No thank you. I will choose dead tree any day of the week, month or year if I ever need to read.

No Answer No Bid

Ebay sellers who don't answer email questions anal retentively won't get my bids. I mean they should have listed their goods in every minute detail possible to begin with. If not, they should answer every single question with as much detail as possible. The fact that they don't list their goods in detail and don't bother to answer questions certainly raise red flag in my book. If they don't bother to answer pre-sale questions promptly, can you imagine if things go wrong post-sales, would they even bother to answer post-sales? I guess not. As a rule of thumb I always find something to ask in a potential bid. If they don't answer to my satisfaction, then forget about it, I won't bid.

I Love Geico

This is real story not a Geico commercial.

The thing with insurance is I don't mind paying for it as long as I don't have to use it. Sadly ~!@# happens. And it happens way too often than I wanted.

I had a flat tire on my way to Long Island. Lucky us, we got to where we wanted to go, parked the car and then found out hey what happened to the front tire on the passenger side? I know I have been putting on some serious weight but to totally destroy the tire flat like that was just sickening. Anyway, we were at Chili's to have lunch. And I decided to try to give a call to my insurance company Geico while enjoying the chicken fingers and tortilla chips. I vaguely remembered there is road side assistance on the policy. Last time when a flying rock cracked the windshield, Geico did a good job by sending the man to the house to fix it at no charge. Within an hour after the call, just I was asking the check, my Blackberry rang and the man just came at Chili's. He changed out the flat under the light shower and put the donut on. And we were ready to roll. I gave him a ten to have some cool beer and to show my appreciation. He was happy and pleasantly surprised that a cheap looking man like me could be quite generous and reminded me once again to lose weight just for the sake of my car. I got his message loud and clear.

Love in the Time of Swine Flu

Liza Wang and Law Kar-ying married. Love wins. The swine flu is just so stupid. Saint Francis Preparatory School got a week of swine flu holiday last week and today school resumes again. Holiday is over.

Panic of 2009

The Swine Flu is mostly bull.

Miscellaneous Flowers

Beer With Dr. Pepper

Thursday

Mr. Biden, If I am not going to take the subway what am I going to take? Your motorcade with secret service riding along? Less than 24 hours after our President told us to take common sense precautions like covering our mouths when sneezing, washing our hands, and staying home when sick, you told us to avoid the subway? That's just borderline fear mongering. You made it seem like things are worse than they seem and we should all hole up at home to ride out this piggy flu thing.

Presidential 100 Day Address

OKAY, he is trying to blow his own horn.  Or at the very least frame his first 100 day performances.  His presentation is short and sweet.

Q&A 

Piggy question from AP, close border, quarantine?

No border closing.  As flu already in US (stupid).  Treat as other flus.  Additional precautions because it's a new string.

Domestic auto, Chrysler, bankruptcy only option, GM from Detroit News

More hopeful to main Chrysler.  Auto workers making big sacrifices.  Details not finalized but he's optimistic that Chrysler with Fiat can be a going concern going forward.  GM, in the process of presenting the admin some plan.

Waterboarding torture, Do you believe previous admin sanction torture?

Waterboarding is torture.  Absolute right thing to put an end to it.  Even if it's effective, information could have gotten through other means which are consistent with the American values.  ... corrodes the character of the country.  Whatever legal rationale used was a mistake.  No, he didn't say explicitly the previous admin sanction torture.  

Pakistan, at warwith Taliban.  US secure nuclear arsenal in Pakistan?  Question from NBC

Gravely concerned.  Civilian government fragile.  Needs help Pakistan, help Pakistanis.  Obsession with India as an enemy misguided.  It's the internal force.  Make sure Pakistan is stable.  Confident that nuclear arsenal is secured.

Iraq question from Reuters

Violence affects timeable of withdrawal.

Senator Specter switched from Republican to Democrat, from CBS

Abortion question from CNN.

Reduce unwanted pregnancy, especially teen pregnancy, spiking up again.  Focus on areas that we can agree on.

What surprised, troubled, enchanted, humbled. from NY Times?  Obama wrote down the question

Surprised by worst economic crisis.

Troubled change in Washington comes in slow, political bickering in big crisis still.

Enchanted, service men and women, profoundly impressed and grateful by their jobs, doing it without complaint, fiercely loyal to this country

Humbled by the fact the presidency is extraordinarily power and yet it's just part of the tapestry of America.  He can't just press a button to make the banks OKAY.  The metaphor of a ocean liner than a speed boat.

....

"Thank you everybody."

(oh no, there is no God bless America, we are officially godless now)

Wednesday

I used to be a bigot against camera makers Konica and Yashica. My rule of thumb was simple any camera ends with a "ca" can't be any good for yours truly. To a certain extent I guess my bias is justified. Now fast backward to the 60s, I think they did make some remarkable rangefinders that are still being sought after by a whole new generation of photographers or arty farty no talent hipsters who somehow equate technically poor shots to high arts. But that's another post for another day. I remember once Tony Leung, our acclaimed actor from Hong Kong was once a spokeperson for Konica when he was more of a TV personality than a full blown international movie star that captures and conquers audience and movie awards alike. He was flashing his friendly smile, dressed in a garishly designed costume to showoff the cheerful colors I guess with another girl whose name I can't recall, holding a box of Konica film. I mean the guy was professional.

Spring

Haven't we all suffered enough? Just when you thought the coast is clear and we are all safe from Somali pirates and the Susan Boyle onslaught, Mexico swiftly and stealthily hit us with its own phenomenon with a deadly twist: the swine influenza. Instead of just sickening people like the British SuBo version, this piggy influenza from Mexico, or allegedly from Mexico, proves to be lethal. It already kills and sickens hundreds and it shows no signs of abating. And of course we have the regular seasonal allergy which makes Claritin part of our daily diet for a good part of the month. Spring, I hate you.

Tuesday

Film
------
The last time I had my 120 roll film developed I had it back ripped. I was disappointed not just because the film got ripped but more so the shop never admitted it was their fault. I really don't think I could rip the film myself plus the print and scan came out perfect. So this time I decided to ship my films to California to develop and scan. I went to Grand Central, paid $4.95 to have four rolls of film shipped on priority mail. Hopefully everything will just be fine. Like most of anything, the USPS is by and large pretty reliable but then we do get some mail that doesn't belong to us delivered to my mailbox. Nothing is 100%.

Eating Out
--------------
Last week a friend of mine came to town on business. I called up my foodie spy and he recommended Ivo and Lulu, a French Caribbean outpost in Tribeca near the Holland Tunnel. I checked out the reviews in the usual places and they are kind of mixed. But I believed in my spy so Ivo and Lulu he said and Ivo and Lulu we went. We got off at Canal Street on the number 1 line and as usual I quickly lost my sense of orientation and proceeded to walk the opposite direction. It took us about five minutes before we realized that we were actually walking away from Ivo and Lulu. And I totally forgot my Blackberry which has GPS for occasions like this.

The restaurant has two entrances and in the beginning I thought the place was totally deserted or not open yet and I actually went to the next door to ask what's going on with Ivo and Lulu. It's a bit awkward as next door is also a French restaurant. But I guess they got this often enough, the waitress actually told me the main entrance is at another door down. I was mildly embarrassed. I had no sense of direction and orientation.

The waitress, Lulu perhaps, wasn't as bad or rude as some of the reviews suggested. She wasn't eager to please but just laid back. My friend asked her to take a picture for us and she was happy to oblige. And mind you, the camera I had with me was from the '70s complete with optical viewfinder and full manual focusing. I set the camera at aperture priority and set the f-stop at 1.4 and let her shoot away.

My gastronomical spy par excellence told me the place was BYOB with no corkage fee but since neither of us drinks so we just had tap water. The waitress automagically brought us a big bottle of tap water without up selling us any fancy water from France or Italy. For me that was a good sign, a sign of down to earth no nonsense hospitality. Though sometimes I do enjoy fancy water but the tap water there was cold and tasted just as good. We ate the basket of bread with pepper flaked olive oil. I thought the French prefer to eat bread with butter. Well I guess the Caribbean part makes it different plus what do I know anyway?

I ordered some of the dishes as suggested by my spy, like the venison for apertizer, and boar and sage sausage as my main course. I have to say the food was savory and bursting with flavors. I had the coconut flan for dessert, it was good but not exceptional. The portion was on the petite side so feel free to order more and share. Overall I think it was a fine dining experience. I wish they have used some real linen napkin instead of the brown paper cafeteria kind of napkin. It kept flying off my lap. The decor is simple and a bit funky, kind of downtown spartan chic if you will. The restroom located at the far end of the dining room on the left of the kitchen, is unisex and furnished with a simple commode only, if you know what I mean.

I think I would go back for the food or if you have cash to launder you should go there too. It's a cash only establishment no credit card.

Ubuntu 9.04

Ubuntu 9.04 is available for download and is supported till 2010. My 8.04 is supported till 2011.

Cherry Blossom

Tuesday Rant

C'mon, for the life of me, I could never fathom anyone who is genuinely interested in a piece of ebay junk would bid on it days before the auction closes. It serves no purpose except to jack up the price. If you want to pay more, sure bid early and bid often. The seller should thank all those idiots who bid early and often.

More ...

And what's the deal of giving low ball offer? I say go for it. As a buyer, what do you have to lose? The worse case scenario is your low ball offer would get rejected and ridiculed by the seller. In that case, move on or bid higher. If the seller doesn't like low ball offer at all, he could have just listed it as buy it now instead of adding the "or best offer." So I say make good use of the OBO option because low ball or not can sometimes a matter of perspective.

More Flowers

I still got no luck with the weeping cherries.

White Magnolia

The Pirates Are Going Down

The pirates aren't doing too well this week. First we had three Somali pirates got shot down by the Navy seals in a standoff in the Indian Ocean. Now we have four pirates from Sweden, founders and operators of the Pirate Bay, a torrent tracker outfit, found guilty (of copyright infringements?) and were sentenced to one year in prison and fined $30 million SEK. As of now, the Pirate Bay site is still up and running.

Climb@tron Doesn't Suck

And that's the problem.

Smithsonian is good and will be even better if they sell something that actually works as intended. I bought a climb@tron hoping that it will really work as advertised. I even asked the sale girl there if it works. I installed the two triple-A batteries. And the thing just barely works. With the help of some water on the sucker, the thing can actually climb up a glass window but then after a few steps the thing just falls down. Without water on the suction cups, the thing can't really hold on at all.

I bought the climb@tron robot for $20 at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. I wish they don't sell and stop selling junk like that to the kids or adults.

Random Pictures

Taken during the Africa safari ...

Holiday Inn where the budget travelers stay ... Free wi-fi, plenty of towels, generally clean. No fridge or microwave. There is a giant Whole Food close by. I would have preferred the Mayflower, like our ex Governor but I am just a budget traveler.

On our way to the Navy standoff in Indian Ocean. The navy seal took out the pirates and saved the Captain before we arrived. Glad somebody got the job done albeit with loss of human lives.

A Trip Around The World

After we went to DC, we got so excited with traveling we decided we should just go around the world, you know like a safari around the world. So here are the pictures I took when I visited different parts of the world. Enjoy.

Giant Panda, China. This is like one lazy bum, just enjoying the attention.

Big Hippopotamus, Africa. A vegan this fat and ferocious is never heard of.

Elephant, India. Another big vegetarian ...

Lions, Africa. She was pretty noisy, making all kinds of noise.

Tiger, India. I was jumping around from continent to continent. This was taken in India. The tiger is just beautiful.

Mama Gorilla with baby. Back in Africa again.

Silver Back Gorilla. I was risking my life to take this picture. The guy got aggressive and jumped me. I wrestled him to the ground, and gave him a karate chop on the neck and choked him till he turned purple. He begged for my mercy. In the end, I let him live. The guy is like endangered or something.
Cheetah, Africa. Whatever diet he is on, I want to be on too. The guy is pacing up and down like he is crazy.

That's all folks.