Thanksgiving 2009

 

Just another day in the kitchen.

Black And White Processing

My regression has yet reached another milestone.

 

There isn't any best time to do anything, so I just went ahead, got the juice, syrup and whatnot to do my own processing.

I was too busy measuring the chemicals so I didn't take any picture. It looks to me the two rolls of 120 negative actually came out quite all right. If anything I might have overexposed some frames when taking the pictures. Oh well, you live and learn. Making mistakes is kind of inevitable, especially for someone like me.  The challenge is to learn from them and not to keep making them again and again.  I should have written down every f-stop and shutter combination on every frame I took but I never did.  I read the Kodak official PX125 paper and seems like I might have over exposed some 1-stop even with the yellow filter attached.  I thought I might have my sunny 16 down quite good.  Anyway, I really need to see the final positive images to determine how good my exposures were and how well or bad my processing was.
The next step is how the heck do I get the images from negative to positive; either by digitizing them via a scanner or sending them out to a printer. A real darkroom with enlarger is pretty much out of the question at this point.

Stay tuned for any new development.

NOTE:
Sorry for the bowl shot.  I clean it every week, it's as clean a bowl as it can possibly can.  You can drink from it though I won't recommend it.

I am glad I did a few reloading in the dark just so to make sure that the film didn't get crinkles and received even development in the process.  As it turned out, despite some minor winkles on the edge of the roll, the negative did receive even development which was what I wanted.

The negative seems thinner than I thought, especially compared to 135 format.  It's almost too soft.  I take it it's easier to get crinkles and needs to be handled accordingly.

I didn't save the developer but was able to keep the stop bath and fixer for re-use.  The developer seems to be more critical among the three from what I understand so I wouldn't mind to mix it up when I need it again.

Given the amount of work involved, it kind of makes sense to do two rolls at the same time.  But I guess I want to have the option to do a single 120 too.

The Epson V700 is a prime candidate in my book but the price is high.

Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving anxiety is setting in.

Listomania

It's this time of the year it's Listomania time.  I am so brain dead, so inept, I couldn't come up with any list.

Regression

My regression is progressing slowly and nicely and has achieved yet another milestone.  Can regression be any progress at all?  I have successfully loaded a 120 roll film onto a stainless steel reel.  Now it's sitting quietly inside a stainless steel tank waiting to take a bath.  This is my first time loading up a 120 roll film in a develop tank.  With several attempts inside my make-shift darkroom, I was able to wrestle the curly unruly film onto the reel.  I used to do 135 black and white many years ago when I was in college (surprise, I actually went to college) so the experience wasn't exactly foreign to me (I remember we took off more than the film cassette top in the darkroom ... but that's another story for another time.  Or never.)  I have yet to mix my chemicals.  I don't know about you, but the suspense, the anticipation, to take a bath for the film and seeing the image emerge is just killing me.  Stay tuned.

Dovo Does Rust Easily. Now I know

I took it that it might be an urban legend that the Dovo would rust so easily.  I thought I use it to shave regularly, that's every other day or so, how could it get rusted?  Wrong.  I learned it the hard way.  It is not rusted yet but there are some very tiny spots on the blade, fortunately not on the edge.  But still, I can't believe it.  I did wipe the blade down I guess it must be from the scales.  I would not leave my blade open to dry as it's too dangerous for the rest of the family.  Well you live and learn.  I guess I have to get more anal about keeping it dry and oiled, just the sort of person to do this sort of thing.

Your Breasts Is The Battlefield

Out of nowhere there is this study and its accompanying non bounding guidelines that recommend women should have their breasts regularly checked, that's by medical professionals not merely by their boyfriends, beginning at the age of 50 every two years instead of today's 40 every year.  The ramification is insurance companies or the proposed federal health care reform may now use these guidelines as a reason not to pay for mammograms done for women before they reach fifty years old.  Cost saving at the expense of women's health.  Personally as a man, I don't think I need to worry about breast cancer for myself.  And I do believe that, as a cynic, there are times maybe the procedure isn't all that necessary.  But at the same time, I'd like the idea that women have the choice to do it at 40 instead of 50 and I'd like to see the procedure covered by insurance.  I think it's just a typical point of view from a consumer of health care.  Insurance companies and federal government of course may think otherwise.

As reported by The New York Times.

Feud

There is nothing better than a feud except when it's a feud between camera nerds.

The sometimes controversial but always entertaining Mr. Ken Rockwell is slamming some workshop and its works.  He calls it "It's Not the Camera: Death Valley Fiasco."  It's under his new section in November but since the guy is still writing his html like it's 1988 with no perma link you just have to look around if you don't see it.  One of the workshop instructors was Mr. Michael Reichmann who not too long ago wrote up a passage entitled Your Camera Does Matter a rebuttal to Rockwell's tongue-in-cheek Your Camera Doesn't Matter.

Do the pictures suck as muh as Rockwell thinks they are?  See them yourself and you be the judge.

UPDATE:
Mr. Rockwell has polished off his Death Valley Fiasco passage.  To my disappointment, the juvenile infantile pee in his pants remark was taken out, instead he added the somewhat conciliatory and somewhat respectful remark that the workshop instructors, Reichmann included, are "great guys" though "this wasn't their greatest moment."

UPDATE
Perhaps I was still sleeping.  The "peeing in my pants" remark is there.  I don't know I could be asleep writing the above first update.

I'm peeing in my pants, because I was tipped off about this fiasco while I was out in Indian Country on a much less expensive workshop, and I got better shots with my $430 Canon S90 at exactly the same time. I'll show you mine when I finally dig back out.

 I know Reichmann, Atkinson and Schewe are great guys; but this wasn't their greatest moment.

UPDATE
The "post" title is now changed to "Worry About the Picture, Not the Camera."  Perhaps "fiasco" is too incendiary to be used and he feels like to clarify that the sponsor Phase One makes great stuff.  He goes on to include a link of a professional's works shot using a Canon G11 to prove his point.  And more importantly, added more links to his advertisers and his own reviews.

UPDATE
PODAS apparently thinks the shitstorm created by Rockwell merits a blog post response which inevitably invites more beatings from Rockwell who is having all the fun, ending two of his updates "Fun" and "Go Shoot" with exclamation marks to punctuate how much fun and excitement he is having.

UPDATE
In less than 24 hours, Rockwell did a 180.  From the earliest Death Valley Fiasco to Worry About the Picture to Good news which I say is really borderline fawning on Phase One.  The juvenile candid stuff is now all gone.  Yes, the peeing in my pants is castrated and no unflattering mentions of poor sucky pictures nor vendor sponsored workshops.  I wonder what had happened.

Ricoh Going Rogue

Ricoh is out on a limb, and probably out of its mind too, to introduce its modular camera, the overpriced GXR, of which the GXR body sells for $549, the A12 50mm lens for $830 and the optional view finder VF-2 for $275.  For me, everything is kind of overpriced, but this is like really overpriced.  The concept is every lens deserves a matching sensor and there is somehow enough suckers to cough up that amount of cash.  So you are going to pay a lot for the modular lens because of its accompanying sensor.  End of story.  Just like dpreview has pointed out, Minolta had this idea way back and in 1998 EX-1500 was this love child of this modular innovation.  If only we can learn from history.  I say it would be a brilliant idea if the sensor is modular as well.  I am a cheapskate and I just don't like the idea that the lens comes with a sensor sealed in a module unless the price of the sensor is negligible which of course is anything but.

Lens, sensor, and body should be the trinity, not lens with sensor and body.

The GXR is kind of brave and brazen but I am afraid it would just go down in history like the Minolta's EX-1500, that is into oblivion.

More from dpreview.

Going Big

I am gaining new appreciation of my own pictures.  I spent some time editing the html and was able to make them 640px wide or 800px wide in one or two cases.  The pictures look so much better.  I mean they are good to begin with and now they are just great.  If you were to see them in print, you would be in tears.  They are just the greatest.  I spent about three seconds searching Google about bigger picture and I am done (I wish my GPS is this good), though actually editing the html is a bit time consuming and sometimes the codes have width and sometime it doesn't.  But in all cases, they are simple enough to get to the right size.

For pictures taken with my Canon SD880 IS (actually posts that got tagged with the Canon label)
Posts tagged with Hasselblad 500C/M
Posts tagged with Yashica Mat-124G
Posts tagged with Nikon F5

Enjoy.

Favorite Woman Of The Year

Woman we love: Chrissie Chau by unanimous decision.

Chrissie Chau, the girl who goes so far so fast is the darling of the year.  She simply can't do no wrong at this point of her career.  She is well loved by all the men in Hong Kong and admittedly some from overseas too.

Previously.

Note, if you disagree you are just wrong.

Going Big: Size Matters

I always think my pictures deserve more prominent coverage, if not from anybody, at least from me.  It's like your children, if you are not going to going to love them, who would?  And lo and behold a two-second search just gave me the solution I needed.  Actually I have been using this blogger editor for a short while and that feature is automatically made available, I just wasn't paying enough attention.  Anyhow, here it is.  My pictures are at least as big as if not better than some of them out there.  Woo hoo.  If you have a tiny little monitor, perhaps it's time to go just a little bit bigger like 22" at 1920x1080 to avoid the constant carpel tunnel inducing scrolling.  It's your wrist we are talking about.

Miscellaneous

The Mamiya Press SUPER 23 is a big camera to be handheld.  The thing is mounted with a 100mm lens.  The viewfinder and rangefinder is a bit foggy and not so easy to focus.  The 6x9 film back isn't small either.  The lens and camera seem to be in good condition.  The shutter and aperture move freely without hesitation.  The price is $349.  At one point I was pretty infatuated with the whole Press camera line probably starting with the Polaroid 600 SE.  Now not so much.

The other day I was in Chinatown I saw a young guy watching a tank of lobsters and holding in his hand was a Toyo 4x5 mounted on a tripod.  I couldn't help but asked him a few questions.  Young guy doing some courses in mid town.  I asked him what lab he uses.

Last night I bumped into a man or rather a character shooting a Hasselblad with a flash and a flash bracket.  I also asked him what labs he uses.  We headed to the same camera store and he ended up buying a whole bunch of NC 400.  I don't even know how many and how much he bought.

I think I am getting closer to develop my b/w ....  But just don't hold your breath.  It can take me another year just to open the box or something.  I am just slow.

Union Square

Walk

I like how portable and shootable the Canon is. In general the pictures come out OKAY, or you simply shoot again. I do have certain gripes about the camera. There are absolutely no manual settings. You can't set the aperture or the shutter speed at all. It's either Auto or Program. I can't even set the focus point when I compose. I guess it's time to read the manual to see if I have missed anything important. After shooting it for a few months, I almost forgot how much I like shooting through a viewfinder.

Veterans Day

5th Avenue, New York City

Deep Thoughts

Right tool for the right job.  Long lens, short lens, fast lens, fast camera for sports.  Of course if you are arty fary, then anything goes.

No matter how hard I try, right after I cleaned up everything, my razor, my brush, my mug, when applying after shave, I would then discover that I missed a spot or two, invariably, without exception.

My Morning Shooting Experience Of The Day

After some fifty shutter releases, my D70 went out of battery.  It was like I didn't care.  I knew the battery was charged and used from a couple of months ago.  So after a few shutter releases the battery bar went low already and I kept shooting until the shutter wouldn't go.  Good thing I brought my F5 with me and the thing can focus, can't it?  And I never need to learn any technique to make it focus right.  If I read the Canon forum without any Nikon experience then I would have thought one needs some killer proper technique to get the camera to autofocus, I think that's just baloney.  It was loaded with a roll E100G 36 slides.  I brought the Nikkor 80~200 (together with the 50 and 24 manual focus lenses) with me.  This zoom lens is considered to be of professional grade I guess for its optics and constant aperture f2.8 across the 80 to 200 focal length.  But there are three things I don't like about the lens.  The A/M ring broke by itself.  I got it fixed free of charge from Nikon.  The filter thread is plastic and doesn't impart the usual confidence from Nikon.  The lens doesn't come with a lens hood.  I am a fan of lens hood but I don't shoot a lot with this lens so I haven't got around to get one for it and judging from the pictures I think it does need one.  I think a good lens hood cuts down flare and increases contrast and makes the lens just look better.

Okay, I think I am going to get the HB-7 for real.  I sure feel like I need one.

Camera Bag

My camera bag is an ancient Tenba.  I think I bought it from B&H.  One thing I don't like about my bag other than it can't carry all of my photographic junk is it can't carry a newspaper.  The bag itself just isn't wide or long enough to accommodate a copy of the New York Times (note, at least that was before the Times got slimmed down a bit, well just checked, no good).  So it can't be used for my daily commute to work.  At the same time, my daily messenger bag is only barely big enough to carry my F5 with either a 24mm or a 50mm, san lens hood for the 50mm but can fit any newspaper comfortably.  The messenger bag just isn't thick or roomy enough for even a respectable (I mean big ass) camera body.  I know why my pictures suck because my camera bag isn't helping.  I don't like fanny pack or back pack style kind of camera bag.  The fanny pack makes me look like a senior citizen or a pre schooler and the back pack kind of makes me look like a high schooler, neither image is desirable.  I got to look good even or especially when my pictures suck.  I heard good things about Crumpler but the logo irks me and seems like every hipster Canon shooting guy has one.  I thought about a case, but a case is really for transportation from point A to point B inside a car or for storage under the bed not really for carrying around.  So my final analysis is I don't think I am in the market for a camera bag.

I am carrying my Tenba with my D70 80~200 and my F5 24mm.  And it's overcrowded already.

Feature Film Shot in D3

Wes Anderson's upcoming stop motion Fantastic Mr. Fox was shot using a Nikon D3.

42nd and 5th

UPDATE: This picture grows on me. I am starting to like it even more. I am just great.

5 Av-Bryant Park

This is where the fashionistas and victims alike congregate twice every year.  Not on the subway platform but above on the park.  I think I have read somewhere that the venue might be changed to Lincoln Center going forward.  I do think all along there are several additional venues in addition to Bryant Park for every fashion week.  I am not sure if I am spreading rumor or the truth.  I think the ice skating rink sponsored by Citi just opened.  So I can do my yearly skating from now on for a few months.

(I can't take any credit for the scanning but I think it looks really good)

Friday Pictures

You can't probably find more boring pictures than these.  They are devoid of any redeeming values nor are they necessarily artistically boring so much so that it's high art.  But hey I derive certain joy in the whole process, what can I say?  I guess I take pride in what I enjoy doing rather than what I am good at doing.

Friday Pictures

I probably used the wrong emulsion.  But I use whatever I have.  Maybe one day I will get my Velvia 50.  Maybe one day I will get my field camera so I will spend at least ten minutes to snap a picture.

Straight Razor Set

Clockwise from left:  A badger shave brush, a 6/8" straight razor, a shaving mug.  Not shown is the shaving soap and strop.  Previously.

update: 11/14/2012
The shaving mug cracked pretty early on.  The quality of it is very questionable.  Anyway, I am still using it.

My Film Inventory

For the past two years or so I have acquired a cache of roll film, mostly expired and I have shot some and posted some online in this blog.  I finally got around to take inventory of what I still have.  They are mostly Craigslist purchases when they were offered at a pretty reasonable price like perhaps $1 a roll.  Now more often than not, they are now offered like $3 a roll even when they are expired or even way way expired, I think that's pretty ridiculous.  The loose rolls I have with future expiration dates are free from Kodak with the exception of two from Fuji.  I got them when I attended the Photoplus at Jacob Javits Center here in New York City.  I seldom shoot so this collection may last for a few years.  But then you never know.  I may become a bigger film waster than I envisioned.  With my Hasselblad or Yashica Mat 6x6 format, each roll of 120 can render 12 frames assuming I don't foul up any frame and so far I haven't.  I don't even bother to keep them in a refrigerator as mine simply doesn't have enough room for them anyway.  53 rolls x12=636 frames from the 120, and 72 frames from the 2 rolls of 135.  For each roll, if I were to develop and scan, not fancy or anything, it's about $11 per roll, no proof or anything, that will cost me 55x11 = $605.  Shocking.  If I were to print then an additional (636+72) x 20cents each = 141.6.  Shocking.

Or for the 18 rolls of 125PX, I can do it myself ... like buying HC-110 and other chemicals.  I think it may cost like $50.  For a flatbed that can do 120 film scanning, perhaps $200.  There aren't really any savings doing it yourself unless you consider it fun.

KODAK PROFESSIONAL

2 rolls 135/36 400NC

10 rolls 120 BW400CN 04/2008 in 5 roll pack

18 rolls 120 125PX 11/2007 in 5 roll pack 

5 rolls 120 400NC 11/2008 in 5 roll pack
5 rolls 120 400NC in 5 roll pack, no aluminum wrap, don't know expiration date
4 rolls 120 400NC 03/2010
3 rolls 120 400NC 03/2011

2 rolls 120 160NC, no aluminum wrap, don't know expiration date
1 rolls 120 160NC 11/2007

2 rolls 120 E100 G 03/2011
1 rolls 120 400TMY-2 02/2011

FUJICOLOR
2 rolls 120 PRO 160S 2010-10

Straight Razor Shaving

A while ago I mentioned that I finally relented to the the temptation of getting a straight razor.  I guess this is just a natural progression of what I am.  Like taking pictures using film, then digital, then film and digital again.  I actually got a straight razor more than a year ago but it was the kind with disposable slide on razor.  I have been using it for more than a year and I haven't touched my Mach 3 Gillette for a long long time.  The thing with a straight razor is akin to film photography it's totally unnecessary and almost pretentious but that's who I am and I have no qualm admitting it.  I guess I have my own quirks and I have grown to accept and if not totally embrace them.  The thing with straight razor shaving is this:  the reward is a clean shave when everything is done right while the punishment for absent mindedness can be swift and severe.  Unlike shaving with an electrical razor or a Mach 3 which you could do while you are half asleep, a straight razor shave demands your full attention or you suffer from the consequence.  In this world full of moral hazards and actions without consequence, I find the whole ritual of straight razor shaving oddly refreshing.

Time Change

Now New York City is 13 hours behind Hong Kong.  It's 7PM Sunday night in NYC, then it's 8AM Monday morning in Hong Kong.

CFV-39 Digital Back Review

A three-part review brought to you by Mr. Oleg Novikov is up.  Much of his review is from his field experience while shooting in Inner Mongolia.

Halloween Party

The first time ever I actually wore something special on Halloween.  It wasn't much of a costume, but a mask was a start.

New York Public Library At Bryant Park

Park Here

Empire State Building

Yellow School Bus

An American icon, sort of.

This was taken on my way to the first day of the Photoplus expo at Jacob Javits Center.  Shot using a Canon SD880 IS.  Opened in GIMP, scaled to 1600 width and did a bit of USM to make it look sharper.  I wish I am a bit more proficient in enhancing the color, make it more saturated or giving it a technicolor look.  Perhaps I can just underexpose it a bit.  This was pretty much a grab shot but I did try to make sure the bus was right in the middle of the frame.  I was shooting into the light so I was mildly blinded when looking at the LCD screen.  I guess what I was trying to say was I did an excellent job capturing the bus.

First Family Portrait

P090109-0127

Originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.
First Family picture by acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz. The picture is a bit controversial as it's pleasant as it's seemingly ordinary. I don't know if it's a deliberate effort to be low key by the White House or by the photographer. But it's a big departure from Leibovitz generally elaborate celebrity larger than life shots I used to see. Is Leibovitz joining the non art direction and non Photoshop camp? I am not sure. I think there is definitely a revolt against over art direction and over Photoshop in general. This is a good family portrait, like one taken at Sears perhaps, it is homely, cheerful, and effortlessly good looking.

More Cameras

What's not clear in addition to the picture is actually the digital back attached, that's the Hasselblad 39MP CVF-39

 

Canon 1D Mark IV with a 35mm f1.4.  I like.

Project Overcompensation

Canon 1200 mm comes with a price tag of $99,000

Another view of the monster

 

 Bigma

Nikon

liveBooks

Our friends from liveBooks ...

The Leica Man

Me at Photoplus Expo 2009, holding some ridiculously expensive equipments.  On the left (or top if your screen is kind of smallish) is a Leica S2 with a Summarit 70mm f2.5 lens.  On the right (or bottom) is a Leica M9 with some astronomically priced lens.

UPDATE:  There is of course, some interest in the S2 ... I was so enthralled by the mere experience of holding a Leica that costs more than my car so I didn't even notice anything.  Later I read it has some one single AF point.  Yes, you read it right, one, so you won't pick the wrong AF point by mistake.  I think that's kind of neat.  I did remember in the sub par lighting condition that's the expo, the AF wasn't doing its job with any more conviction than my Canon P&S.  Actually I wonder why they bother AF at all, why not just manual focus, I don't think people are going to shoot formula I with an S2.  As to the M9.  It's hefty, more than I imagined it would be, the S2 on the other hand doesn't weigh as massive as it looks, so I don't know. Leica is a brand that is pretty much impervious to negative reviews, plus I guess it really has its merits even most (sorry if you can afford one I don't mean to be offensive) people can't afford one.  So what does it really matter?  If you like it and can afford one, go ahead buy one and call it a day.

Note:  For the fashionista, more utilitarian actually, out there, that's a Uniqlo +J jacket by the purity obsessed Jil Sander as worn here over a 100 years old gray pocket Gap T-shirt.  The jeans was a pair of originally unwashed shrink-to-fit Levi's 501, look what I did to it, it's on the verge of disintegrating and falling apart.  Clear Freeway frame by Shuron USA.  Messenger bag is a Coach.  Not seen are brown Blundstones boots and lime green American Apparel brief.  The hairs, on top of my head and on my face, are all mine.  I finally relented and bought myself a Dovo straight razor, beard, here I come.

Windows 7

Are you 7 enough to use Windows 7?  Windows 7 is not as 7 as I have imagined, at least that's what all the reviews told me so far.  But does it really matter?  Even The New York Times described Windows Vista as "epic fail" but to me, it really doesn't matter.  I just use it to browse the web.  It could well be Windows 3.11.  As an aside, I think the word "fail" is really on fire.  I try to be trendy so I have adopted it to my post usage as well.  I know the really hip people are going to hate that as a hip lingo is once again summarily appropriated and adopted by an uncool person like me and even by the Gray Lady.  There is chance that I will have to go 7, like it or not.  But really it doesn't matter.  Not much anyway.

Canon EOS 1 D Mark IV

As if the world needs another big ass digital camera.  I say yes actually.  Canon just announced its latest high speed professional DSLR that once again offers a dizzying array of features that at once appeal to professional photographers and professional gear heads.  According to my quick glance at dpreview, where else anyway, the new camera has 45 AF points that have the potential to focus correctly as opposed to its predecessor that is mired with focus problems, real or perceived.  The thing offers full 1080p video and can shoot in the dark, i.e. ISO 120400, not that it means anything to me,  It is totally outside of my knowledge and experience.  If with any luck, I may be able to see it in the PhotoPlus in NYC.

The World Is Not Enough Of Apple

There is an avalanche of good news coming from Apple.  First and foremost, the stock is now over $200 and most likely will stay that way and if Cramer would have it, it probably is going to shoot past the $300 or even $400 price point.  Sky is the limit.  As if that is not enough, Apple just rolled out some minor upgrades of its notebook and desktop line, the details of course can be found in Apple's site and other sites that are peripheral and feeding off Apple's success.  The new unibody hard plastic, er, I mean polycarbonate MacBook lacks FireWire and SD slot, bummer.  Perhaps what's old is new again, it just looks like my broken iBook G3 from way back 30 years ago.  Anyway, for FW and SD you have to go MacBook Pro.  Anyway, people are lapping up anything Apple makes.  The state of Apple is strong and reality distorting, just like it should be.  Disclaimer:  I own Apple stock and products.  If you buy Apple stock and end up losing more than your underwear, don't blame it on me.  I can't be responsible for anybody's stupidity and misfortune.

Random Thoughts

It's really not the equipment.  I have similar equipment but my pictures are pedestrian at best.  Mostly I just admire my equipment, they are my objects of affection, sometimes I feel bad for my gears, it's like I never help them fulfill their potentials even they are capable of taking great pictures.  Oleg Noikov's October 21 2009 pictures just blow me away.  Sure I don't have a CFV-39 back but that's not really irrelevant.

Apple Can't Do No Wrong

Just like pseudo model Chrissie Chau, Apple can't do no wrong.  If you disagree, you are wrong.  In the midst or at least the immediate aftermath of an economic death spiral while most companies are struggling to stay afloat, that's with the exception of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, Apple is yet having another stellar quarter.  The share price of Apple hit $200 at some point.  You can see even people are struggling financially and losing their homes to foreclosures, when it comes to computing, people are willing to pay a premium to be cool or perceived to be cool.  You do pay more to be cool, just look at Apple's profit margin.  Apple's gross margin is over 32.26% while Dell was around 20.4%.  Disclaimer:  In the interest of disclosure, I own Apple stock and products (broken G3 iBook and free iPod something, the 512MB gum stick).  If you were to lose more than your underwear buying and selling stock, don't blame it on me.  I can't be responsible for anybody's stupidity and bad luck.

Something About Shoelaces ...

It's the morning rush.  Everybody is in a hurry.  There is no time for anything.  Everybody has to be out at 7:28AM.  That's except for one thing, tying up the shoelace in a butterfly bow securely.

I pulled over the curb once I found out Harry just tucked in his shoelaces instead of doing it the right way--securely tied in a butterfly bow.  I would not tolerate this infraction.  It is one of my many excuses to get mad at them.  I just think there is really no reason not to know how to tie the shoelace.  With the invention of Velcro, both kids and parents are just too happy not to know how to tie their shoes.  If I see any otherwise healthy ten  year old wearing Velcro tied sportshoes not because of any misguided aesthetic reason but out of necessity, it really makes me sick.  I wouldn't like them to just slip in and off a tied pair of shoes either, especially when they whine and scream while trying to squeeze in their untied pair of shoes.  I feel like to yell and slap them around.  But I choose my war to fight, sometimes I just give up and back off.  Like any parents in the morning rush.

Digital Back CFV-39 For Hasselblad

This is a digital back for Hasselblad V series cameras.  I think.  I don't bother to read the fine prints.  Oleg Novikov is in the process of penning his field experience with this 39MP back.  The site is good old html, and I don't know if it has any perma link.  Anyway, do a search or something, the update is on October 17, 2009.

Daily Fodder From Donald

The guy is on a roll.  After playing grammar cop, with spectacular failure, in a legco meeting, Donald Tsang continues his daily blunder by trying to give nepotism a bad name.  The father-in-law of Tsang's son turns out to be a vendor and a likely beneficiary of some government sponsored energy efficient light bulb program.  There won't be any conflict of interest if it has been properly disclosed and approved by some certain branch of government.  It looks like this was not the case.  Another Oopsie from your Chief Executive.

Sourced from mingpaonews.com

The Year After

Dow is inching towards 10,000.  JPMorgan Chase is having spectacular quarter profits.

What happened a year ago seems so far away now.

• Bear got saved by the government and bought by JPMorgan Chase
• Lehman Brothers, not so lucky.  Paulson let it go under.  The bankruptcy had a domino effect, a run on the money market, a liquidity freeze, a collapse of confidence.  Barclays bought part of Lehman at a good price.
• AIG was considered too big to fail and saved by the Fed.
• Merrill Lynch sold at $29 a share to Bank of America.  John Thain got a good deal from Ken Lewis.
• Morgan Stanley was saved by Mitsubishi
• Goldman Sachs got money from Warren Buffett.
• The Fed got Congress to pass legislation to spend $700 billions on TARP.

The free market is not free.  The Fed spent taxpayers' money so the free market can remain free for the bankers.  How we got to the point where we couldn't let one financial institution fail without dire consequence to the whole global market is beyond me.

I am not sure if we are having any financial reform.  Or any health care reform at all.

UPDATE 3:24PM:
Dow passed the 10,000 mark.

Staedtler Eraser

When I was little like eleven or twelve, education was a privilege. We needed to jump through hoops just to go to secondary school (or what we call junior high school here).I remember our primary school teachers made sure we had the right weapons for this Primary Six public examination, i.e. three sharpened HB pencils and a Staedtler eraser for those multiple choice questions. To this day, I still believe in a good eraser. Every time, my kids erase their homework with some sub par eraser, I can't help but tell them to use a real eraser. It irks me to no end seeing them using the eraser head from the pencil.

Nikon D3s

I am live blogging live blogging the supposedly Nikon D3s launch. Just kidding. I can't be live blogging that. Anyway, the "s" is not meant to indicate plural but a new model for the incremental evolutionary upgrade of the Nikon D3 model. There is some excitement, manufactured or not, really depending on who you are, to this launch. And the usual rumor sites are prepared to blog more about this should it really become a real product. The Leica M9 is the camera du jour, everybody is still very much excited about it and got a bit hung over since its 09/09/09 launch. But if you are looking for sheer speed and high ISO and expandability, nothing really beats a Nikon, there I said it--as if I really know what I am talking about. I want a D3 like DSLR with 18MP selling for a thousand bucks. Give it to me Nikon.

UPDATE:
Sorry guys, there isn't really anything first hand here.  But thanks for visiting.
You got to go to Nikonrumors.com to see all the D3s rumors.

Lee Jeans

I remember once upon a time Lee made some killer jeans.  But now in the US, Lee just specializes in selling the ugliest jeans it can possibly make.  They re-design all the good old jeans they can and make them look as ugly as they can possibly make them, the cut, the wash, everything.  If not ugly they simply won't sell them.

I really don't get it.  If only they don't change a thing they would look the best already.  Now instead for the best looking Lee you will have to find them in Europe or in Japan.  America somehow deserves the ugliest looking Lee jeans.

GPS Experience

I am spoiled by Google Map and Google in general.  So when I have to type in something in my GPS, and it takes like a minute to give me choices I am not at all happy.

J Crew and Levi's

I don't know what Levi's was thinking.  But I guess if the price is right, one can sell his mother.  That's what I feel about the transaction between J Crew and Levi's.  Allegedly Levi's sold its LVC, or Levi's Vintage Clothing (Collection?) to J. Crew.  If you were to do a relevant search on Google you probably can find traces of this relationship.  I don't know it's made public or if it's even true but that's what I have gathered from my source.  The collection typically sells for $200 for a vintage 501 replica and I guess J. Crew would probably jack it up maybe 25% more why 25% because that's what Google cache is telling me.

UPDATE 2 seconds after the above and some Google result reading:
The above was indeed old news.  I found reports on that in August.  So it's a done deal.  My post trying to be a fashionista fails. Miserably.  I guess the LVC is not offered online.

I Love You All

Again it's time to thank a very small number but dedicated readers out there ... some where--my imagination runs wild during this time of the day.

Clean Is Not Enough

Empire State Of Mind
warning: explicit lyrics, maybe offensive.

Every time somebody reminds me how dirty New York is, I just shrug.

"When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is.  Clean is not enough."--Fran Lebowitz.

Bear Mountain Trail

I am still searching my own identity in this world.  One of the roles I play regularly is my boys' Dad, though I am definitely not going to get any Oscar award for that judging from my lackluster performance.

It was a five-hour hike and I made it back alive without totally embarrassing myself and my kids, I think.  Just look at the pictures, I was always the last one trying to catch up, always on the verge of losing my will to walk another step or live another day.

The inept photographer in me says:  notice the purple fringing around the tree branches?  I think Canon compacts or maybe most compacts have this problem when shooting directly into the sunlight.  But big deal, I'll just leave it as it is.  If National Geographic decides to call me, which is like never, then I will learn how to remove this purple fringing thing.  For now, I just love the color purple.

Ralph Lauren

FAIL.
 

Photoshop fail, legal fail, publicity fail, what now, fashion fail?

I think the dude is selling Americana, like romantic vision of the great American ideals, great outdoors, freedom and individual liberty.  But dude is suppressing freedom of speech through some big wig lawyers.  Shame on you cowboy.

via bb via Conscientious via hongkie tweet.  Yes, I am just recycling the news.  No you won't see the picture except via the link.  I am afraid I will get a cease and desist from Polo.

Note:  There is no freedom of speech in this blog.  Comment at your own risk.

The Inevitable Pseudo Intellectualization of The Pseudo Model Phenomenon Part II

Don't let this die.

I can really appreciate the humility of this chick girl.  She is the first to admit she is the one to blame for perhaps her sub-par performance, because as she puts it she doesn't have "enough ink" in her to answer those supposedly intellectually profound and challenging questions--my words not hers.  I mean how can you hate her?   Her meteoric rise to fame and fortune can be attributed to her good look and good management.  But I guess it's also because she is a girl of our time.  By that I mean she didn't come from any of the traditional establishment in Hong Kong, i.e. traditional TV beauty pageant.  People are already deeply critical and cynical of traditional TV if not downright sick and tired of it.  And Chau proves that those people are right.  TVB can no longer be the arbiter or purveyor of taste, or as a gatekeeper and hold you back to become successful though it may help when you have it on your side.  The public, read guys, don't need TVB to tell them which chick has the beauty and the brain to be named Miss Hong Kong, not anymore and not even relevant to a large part of the populace.  The most severe critics that I am aware of turn out to be from the good old fashioned venues, some chick from a beauty pageant and a woman whose dad is a billionaire casino mogul and an openly practicing polygamist.  Both suggest Chau, is pandering to sex and bad taste in general, and hence deserves absolutely no respect and worse is like committing the  biggest crime ever, which is mind-boggling considering both are in the same business though admittedly with less publicity and grassroots support than Chau.  Epic fail.  People tend to root for the underdog and the underdog is Chau.

The Inevitable Pseudo Intellectualization of The Pseudo Model Phenomenon

The first rule of being a model, you don't talk.  The second rule of being a model, refer to rule number one.

The inevitable pseudo intellectualization of the pseudo model begins.  Epic Fail.  I like her the same regardless. (note to Chau:  don't be intimidated, if you were, by this professor or the academic setting, his questions aren't necessarily hard or intellectually challenging.  If you feel like it's a dumb question, probably it is.  What's profound is how far you have gone from where you were to where you are now.  Enjoy your fame and fortune.)

via ESWN

Success Has Many Parents ...

picture via wiki

Success has many parents while failure is always an orphan.  (update 10/11/09:  apparently it's no long available as linked image from wiki, but single click on it still gives you the picture, so click away.)

Charles K Kao, Nobel prize winner.

Failure Is An Orphan

Epic fail.

Just take him, anybody?



via ESWN

Jackie Chan, unintentionally funny.

Cast Iron Grill Pan With Ridges

I am a fan of cast iron cookwares.  I guess I must have said it a dozen times already.  What can I say?  I got nothing better to write about.  This one has ridges, so you can really make nice looking grill marks on it.  It's also coated with enamel on the outside which I don't think is necessary but can add different colors to  the same pan for aesthetic and marketing reasons.  Some has the enamel on the cooking surface so that makes it non-reactive to acidic food, me think.

Patricia Cornwell

I like her novels.  She is reliable and I feel like she's always done her work.

Cable

I am happy with the HD pictures from cable.  I have seen HD pictures from satellite, and I have to say they look pretty bad to me.  I don't know if it's the setting or what.  So I never bother to switch to dish.  Plus I am a man of habit.  But since this summer, I don't know exactly when, the cable software got changed, and I don't like it one bit.  I think there had been a few random reboots already.  The navigation is not anywhere near intuitive, there are times when the navigation seems dead end, you just can't back out or exit your way out the menu.  The interface is worse off than before upgrade.

Letterman Owning The Narrative Of His Own Story

Instead of just watching others make fun of himself, he makes fun of himself and makes a show out of it.  A week after he broke the news that he was being extorted for having affairs with his staff, Letterman once again takes control and shape his own story.  He makes fun of his affair and shortcomings during his entire opening monologue.  He goes on to apologize to his wife, Regina and even once again apologize to Sarah Palin, perhaps just for comical effect.  The only problem I see with his affairs is he was doing that with his underlings.  Does it amount to sexual harassment, an abuse of power?  Or was he just a sugar daddy?

Well the truth will probably set him free.

FTC

The FTC announced today that bloggers should clearly disclose whether a post is editorial or advertisement when something like payments and free products are involved.  All my posts are editorial because nobody in his right mind is going to pay me anything.  I always appreciate bloggers who are upfront about the goodies they receive and clearly state that hey, this is an ad instead of a regular blog post.  Because some readers just don't have it in them to discern the difference.

via theonlinephotographer.

Recession. What Recession?

Photo jacked from Nytimes.com.  Copyright belongs to its rightful owner.  Photo by Danielle Levitt

This pair of artfully aged and perfectly torn jeans is selling for $575 at Barneys New York.  You just want to kill yourself, don't you?  It's like people have a lot of money and willing to spend a lot of them to just look like not rich or some hobos.  People are too ashamed of their wealth or what?  I guess I will never ever find out in my lifetime how the rich people think  I wear torn and deconstructed jeans too, but I don't pay people to do it for me because that would be too contrived and too expensive.

To learn more ridiculously expensive stuff or stuff that makes you want to kill yourself, click here.

Overgrown Fig Tree From Neighbor

Chinatown

I just got my film back from processing.  I mailed them on Monday 9/21 during lunch break on priority mail.  Today is Saturday 10/3.  Usually I am fine with the time it takes to get back the pictures.  But it just seems a bit too long.  As usual, the majority or should I say all of the pictures are sub standard.  Technically they are by and large OKAY.  I mean, you can't really go wrong shooting in auto, can you?

Chinatown

Breakfast At Home

This one comes out all right, (by my probably ill informed standard that is). I think ideally I should shoot a single roll of film under the same lighting condition so when I develop, the same roll would get the same effect, consistently good or bad. I mean you can't develop frame by frame from a 120 roll film. Anyway, for me, all different lightings across a roll of 120. So it's not really that great when it comes to develop. More work needs to be done after developing when it comes to print.

Bark

The scans come back OKAY, but the prints look pretty bad, The majority of the pictures I took them with a yellow filter in the front, I was hoping it would increase the contrast a bit. Still some of them came out pretty flat, just a mushy shade of gray, in part could be a result of overcast outdoor lighting; there was no black at all. It's hard to take good pictures and it's even harder to get some nice black and white prints. I am still agonizing, like I do with many things most of the time, over if I should proceed to develop my own black and white. I don't want to just buy stuff and end up not using them.

A Day In The Park

Big Disappointment From Big Wong

I like to exaggerate.  It's a disappointment, even it's not big, in the scheme of things.

Last night I was in Chinatown.  I went to Big Wong.  I ordered a rice plate of Roast Pork and Roast Duck over rice.  It came instead Chicken and Roast Duck over rice.  I was OKAY with that.  I took a look at the check, the waiter got it right, at least on the check  Probably the kitchen messed up or the waiter ordered it wrong.  Anyway it didn't bother me much.  The dish was definitely below average.  The rice wasn't warm or soft and the meat, both the roast pork and the chicken were below average.  I have it much better in mid town.  So I was disappointed given that it's the very famous Big Wong in Chinatown.

Bring Sexy Back To The Armed Force

Photo: Diego Azubel/European Pressphoto Agency jacked from nytimes.com.  Copyrights of photo belongs to its rightful owners.

Sex And Violence.

Nothing sexier than a legion of women soldiers decking out in hot pink skirts and toting some seemingly semi automatic weapons.

China Celebrates 60 Years of Communist Rule

China’s leaders marked their nation’s 60th anniversary on Thursday with a precision display of military bravado that included, improbably, a female militia unit toting submachine guns and attired in red miniskirts and white jackboots, and a fleet of floats with representations of a giant fish and Mount Everest.

Letterman

Letterman is enjoying unprecedented ratings.  But I am mildly disturbed by a couple of recent incidents, not even counting his latest:  he admitted he was bedding some staffers.  The first was during the pre-interview of President Obama, he was making fun of the woman who brought the heart-shaped potato.  I don't like it how he made fun of her especially she was/is a fan and a woman.  Then came another show when he again made fun of an Indian guy who asked for a jacket or jackets to bring back to India for Christmas.  In the end he got a couple "skankets" from guest Bruce Willis.  I don't know whether the show did or did not give him a jacket or jackets.  Granted the guy was aggressive but sometimes all you need is to ask for what you want.  I like Letterman when he makes fun of the rich and famous but not when put down his audience in some sort of borderline insulting ways.

Ken Reviewing M9

I am live blogging Ken live blogging his M9 review.  M9 is now in his, gasp, "sticky little hands" now as he puts it.  I have no idea why they are sticky.  Could that be he is in Arizona?  Or because of something insidious?  Anyway, I am delighted to read his review.  I can't possibly link to his article as there isn't any permalink yet, he's still crafting his html like in the 80s.

UPDATE:
For what is worth, here is the link about sharpness.  I didn't own any of the cameras and unlikely to get any one of them, but I found it pretty appalling that given the founding as it is, the Canon whatever Mark II can't even focus correctly.  I think that's pretty ludicrous.  I guess some people are going to suggest you need to use certain focusing technique, i.e. suggesting it's a user error.  But I don't buy it one bit.  If I paid $2,700, or even $270 I fully expect it, and rightfully so, to acquire focus 99.99% all the time with all my manufacturer's lenses.  I like how Ken says it without irony or anything, "and let the Canon shoot at f/8 since it was having a focus problem." like as a matter of fact.
----
I just now went to dpreview.com, somebody is saying the same thing with Canon 7D, focus problem.  I think even long time ago, when the Canon whatever 1DMarkII came out, it had focusing problem too, and Canon even acknowledged it and it was a big big deal.  I simply cannot believe that.

Not counting any P&S, the lowly Nikon D70 and my ancient F5 never have any auto focusing issue.  They are so reliable that it's just ridiculous.  Reading all these online hearsays about Canon auto focus problems spanning from one model to another over the years, I guess I would never ever take a chance with their DSLR.

Film Processing

I live in NYC, yet I send my films elsewhere for processing and scanning.  I still haven't found the one with the price point and the quality and the convenience I like.  I thought I did, but it didn't quite work out.  I am not even aware if B&H or Adorama process any film any longer.  If I were to develop my film then I very much would limit myself to black and white processing.  But to make a print I'll have to either scan it or get an enlarger.  As an aside, when I typed enlarger in eBay for a search on photo enlarger I got something totally different from what I have in mind, photographically.  The turn around of any mail order develop and scan has been painfully slow, always to the tune of a week or ten days counting shipping.  So there is really no instant gratification.  One time I was at a local CVS, I asked a youngster manning the photo developing machine if they scan film while developing he says yes but when asked how big and what dpi, he was just like me, clueless.  I thought he looked nerdy enough to know the in and out of his photo processing but no.  I thought I might get lucky to get my film developed at CVS but I guess not.  Also, I found out films are pretty expensive, a roll of 36 Tri-X at CVS is selling more than $6.  I think that's pretty steep.

What Camera To Buy

Usually nobody asks me for any camera recommendation.  Because people are generally smarter than what I give credit to.

In the rare circumstances when people did ask me I usually didn't know what to recommend.  Or I seriously afraid I would recommend the wrong ones.  And they will forever think lowly of me.  Contrary to what most people think, I do care what people think of me.

I was at a birthday party in a roller skating rink, doing double axels, triple loops and the quad salchows to the tune of I Gotta Feeling and You Belong With Me, the crowd went nuts and was cheering and clapping for me.  I was the center of attention.  While I was enjoying the spotlight, my wife pulled me aside and introduced me to this lady who wanted to get a camera.  I was flattered but I really didn't know where to begin.  So I just handed my lowly Nikon D70 and 18~70 kit lens and asked her to shoot.  I told her to shoot using P, and tried to explain ISO and flash (I wonder if I would be that generous and easy if that was a $7000 M9 with a $2000 lens attached, but I am afraid I would never find out).  Anyway, I was a bit lost as I don't know what she likes or not likes.  I told her if she can put up with the weight then sure a DSLR with changeable lens is good if action and flexibility are what she is after, otherwise any point and shoot will do the job just fine.  She seemed quite satisfied with the shooting and my explanation.  I hope she enjoys whatever she gets.

For me, I just like cameras, any good cameras.

My Misadventure of Simple Back Up

I knew it. I knew I am the kind of person who should never do any backup or anti-virus kind of protection. It's just not me.

I thought I got everything covered after I bought my external enclosure and a 500MB hard drive. I run the Simple Back Up program on schedule. And one day I found out my harddrive was full 100%. To make the long story short, Simple Back Up is just as smart as me, which is to say not very smart and rather erratic. The time I didn't turn on my external hard drive, Simple Back Up still wanted to backup, you know kind of over enthusiastic in its work ethic. Instead of backing up to my designated partition, it just went ahead and backed up to /media. On some nights I notice under the top command that gzip is running even though my external hard drive is off. But I never thought too much about it because I thought the program might be checking for content for incremental backup. Seriously, what do I know? At first glance it seemed the gvfs-fuse-daemon was at default. So I was tempted to just remove the /.gvfs. Good thing I did more Googling before I did something I would later regret even I have a serious death wish. In the end, I could safely confirm that Simple Back Up is dumping stuff to where it shouldn't be. It took me a while to figure out things got dumped to /media, yes, I was that slow. I proceeded to delete them and delete them again in the root trash folder.

In the end, it wasn't all bad. Just a few hours of frustrations.

So I am not backing up anymore, at least not automatically.

Random Post

I had no idea Clinton and Letterman are the same age until Letterman mentioned it on the show. I don't know why Letterman keeps wearing the brown plastic frame that he is wearing. The frame keeps fogging up. It fogs up whenever he wears it and it has become a distraction; I would pay attention to his right lens looking for signs of mist to form instead of paying attention to whatever funny stuff he has to say. Ditch the frame or redo the lenses.

Like Letterman said, Clinton is extremely smart, still. And I like how he philosophizes and breaks issues down. Clinton talked very little about his North Korea trip and only said that it was at the journalists' families request that he takes the trip. And he was very respectful to the present administration, in part, I guess it's his nature and in part his wife is with the administration. His role on the North Korea trip was pure humanitarian and therefore should be construed as such. He is not going to express any more opinion on Kim or North Korea than he already had, so as not to influence the present administration or the sitting president's policy on North Korea.

President Week

This is like president week for Letterman. Tonight, Obama will be on Dave's show, the first sitting president ever to be on a Late Show. Then tomorrow, Tuesday, it's Bill Clinton's turn. Clinton has so far never made any comment regarding his North Korea trip. So it's interesting to actually see him talk about it in his own word. At least I am not aware he ever talk about it. I assume Letterman is going to ask him questions regarding his rescue mission in North Korea.

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