韋秀嫻 —— 《一水隔天涯》1966年電影版

Canto pop continues ...



I sort of like how she awkwardly moves while chirping away on stage.

Thanks to Sidney.

Alejandro Falla Is Making Roger Work in Wimbledon

Lady Gaga made him a household name even before he hit the manicured lawn in England.  Alejandro Falla is making Federer sweat on the first round.  Now that's pretty unbelievable.



UPDATE:
After R.Fed rallied from behind, Alejandro just got nothing else in the tank to bother with the fifth set and gave it to Roger. Federer once again proves what's made of.

郭靜 - 麻雀

There are no love songs like maudlin love songs and there are no maudlin love songs better than Mandarin maudlin love songs from Taiwan.

 UPDATE 10/28/2011: Looks like the video got taken down because of copyrights issue. Oh well.  Personally I think that's just dumb.

Nikon Nikkor AIS 50MM F1.4

Only the left eye is in focus, I would like to have both eyes in focus.  I either shot at f2 or f1.4 so very shallow depth of field.  It's a pain to focus on the D70, the viewfinder is too small, the focusing screen isn't designed for manual focus. But I am cheap so I have to live with it.

Jong Tae-se in Floods of Tears

Email savaged from the Internet gutter ... Names redacted to protect the innocent.

[redacted],

You should consider introducing Jong to the American audience in your blog. Hig[sic] slitty eyes and big, flat Mongoloid face comes out of a typical Hollywood stereotype. If you were a casting director for a movie about Genghis Khan or the Yellow Peril, you need to look no further. The television picture of him in torrential tears during the national anthem before the North Korea/Brazil World Cup match was the most memorable part of the match as far as I am concerned. Even our old roommate wouldn't have shed that much tears to the memory of the erstwhile Dear Leader thirty years ago.

[redacted]

I think, I am not sure, North Korea and China are using this episode to champion nationalism and the love of one's motherland.

Amazon vs Newegg

Both are good online merchants.  What I like about Newegg over Amazon is when the former offers free shipping, the only thing different from normal shipping is it's free and I got the merchandise just as quick or slow as regular shipping.  In most cases, it's within three days that I would actually receive the goods I ordered.  Whereas when Amazon offers free shipping, the order just sits there in the warehouse somewhere and wait another week before it actually got shipped.  What's the deal?  Case in point, I ordered something on Tuesday, that is June 15 and the expected shipping date is June 21.  If the price differential is not significant I will definitely order from Newegg and I do usually.  Now looking back I probably should have ordered from Newegg even I would end up paying close to ten dollars more.  I simply don't like to wait --I thought I can live with waiting for a week and save ten bucks.  I just hate waiting, with a passion.

UPDATE:
6/17/10
As if Amazon read this post, the order actually got shipped via FedEx today.  What a pleasant surprise.

Graduation

I am at the point where I think a better ISO performance can help.

I am shooting at ISO 640 or lower. Anything higher would be too grainy for my taste. With my 80-200 I am set at f2.8 and I can barely hold the lens still. I am inclined to believe the D300s would probably satisfy my needs.

After shooting indoors where lighting is poor once every year or so, I really come to appreciate fast zoom lens and a low noise sensor.  Fast prime with f-stop bigger that 2.8 can be useful in addition to being a bokeh machine.  And since for the most part I can't move around in that kind of setting so a flexible zoom helps and a VR should be a big plus but hey if you don't have it what are you gonna do?  I always shoot whatever I have and just try to maximize their utilities for as long as I could.  I wish my 80-200 has VR but it would almost double its price so forget it.  Maybe I can just get a body with better frame rate so I can shoot a series and pick the sharpest or I can get a newer body with better noise performance at ISO800 and beyond.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first of a three part so called Millennium series by the late Stieg Larsson who died shortly after he submitted the manuscript of what has now become an international bestseller.

The story is mostly about a middle-aged journalist, Blomkvist who has plenty of luck with women and a grown woman Salander who is stuck in a body of a thirteen-year-old and seems to have misguided sartorial taste on Goth, body piercings and tattoos. Together they discover dark family secrets, find missing persons, catch serial killers, expose financial gangsters and what have you. They share a passion for Apple products, hers a Powerbook (she likes it so much so that she gives a blowjob in exchange for money to buy one) and his an iBook (no blowjob mentioned), in between all these activities, they have sex and drink a lot of coffee.

The paperback is almost 600-page thick and the story is well paced, organized and plotted. Every little thing is explained (Remember the TV series Lost? Anybody? Where nothing is really explained and people have so low an expectation that they actually don't expect the finale answers every stupid convoluted clues left before. Ha?). Overall I like the story except I always have some prejudice against translated works. I keep thinking what's missing in the translated English version. Too bad, I don't read Sweden. Salander is supposed to be a world class hacker yet I don't really see her do any actual hacking. I expect the book to print verbatim what commands and source codes she uses to hack. Alas, there is none and I just have to take Larsson's word for it.

Miscellaneous

She looks out the window. It just dawns on her that he'd always liked her: the way he not looked at her; the way he not talked to her.

(PS: Inspired by Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

Vuvuzela is Going to Drive you Deaf and Crazy

After this World Cup, half of the world will be deaf, and the other half crazy.  Thanks to something called vuvuzela which is designed for the sole purpose to drive one deaf or insane or both.

Tennis

I am still shooting with my D70. The lens is a 80-200 f2.8. I am happy with my purchase and it becomes my go to lens whenever I need some telephone shots. I mean of course it's my go to lens, what else do I have a 400mm?

Big Breakfast With Pancake

Ardent Reader

Time With the Little One

Live Blogging Live Blogging WWDC10

Jobs is seen wearing his trademark outfit.  Wait, there is also a black leather belt around his shrunken waistline.  Yes, a black leather belt, probably between 28 and a 32.

Everything is rosy and all with the iPad.  Using Winnie-the-Poop, no, it's the Pooh as an example.  Oh, no, PDF.  I HATE PDF.   Why not just html?  Is PDF really that great.  I prefer plain text and html.

Netflix and Farmville on iPhone.  For those obsessive office cube farmers, good news.

Guitar Hero too for 2.99 available at app store.

Steve says Apple paid $1 Billion to developers ... wow.



 iPhone ...

Steve says Android is nowhere near iPhone, essentially that what he says.  iPhone 28% and Android 9% .

All right iPhone 4
It's iPhone 4, not any other names you heard.  Jobs says it's iPhone 4.

It's as thin if not thinner than Jobs himself.  Only 9.3mm thick, thin.

It's like a beautiful old Leica camera.  I don't know how the Leica fanboys will feel about it.  Comparing iPhone 4 to Leica.

Wow, iPhone 4, that's why there are so many suicides at Foxconn. 4, nobody would call it a 4 in Chinese as it rhymes with death in Chinese.  But who cares about the Chinese anyway?

[the rest is at my tweeter account]

WWDC10

Your iPhone 3GS is going to be officially obsolete today as Jobs would have it planned.  In all likelihood, the iPhone 4G or the successor of the 3GS will be unveiled later today at the WWDC10.  The "Get a Mac" commercial would show its finale during this occasion as it's been rumored.  It's run marks the war between PC and Mac and it's end really echos the shift from big keyboard computing to handheld computing.  Let's see if Jobs can surprise us by introducing more than just the iPhone 3GS successor.

I believe the usual suspects will carry the live webcast.  And Gizmodo calls it the "Next iPhone, Re-revealed."  Since Gizmodo's run-in with Apple and has become news itself, its coverage on anything Apple seems biased and carries some negativity that I am not sure if I can whole heatedly enjoy.  Negativity is perfectly fine with me but not with the back story that everybody is aware of by now.  I don't know if it pokes fun of Apple because it's fun to do (I like) or just out of spite (I don't like).  Oops, just found out, Gizmodo is unwelcome at WWDC10.

Week in Review

The French Open is over.

I am glad to see some new faces in the Women's final.  My DVR didn't do its job, it's extremely temperamental so I didn't get to see the Women's final.  Before the match my money was really on Samather Stosur, the Australian.  But what do I know?  I am happy Francesca Schiavone took home the grand prize.

On the men's side, Nadal made a very convincing comeback, if one had any doubt on Nadal's physical and mental readiness before the tournament, they should all be gone by the time he steamrolled Soderling in a three set victory.  Soderling played an uninspiring match.  He looked leaden, deflated and just didn't have the fighting spirit to match Nadal's speed and tenacity.  The end result wasn't unexpected but I was a bit shocked how unmotivated Soderling seemed.  Soderling is a legi player but somehow every time when he reaches the final, he looks all exhausted and ready to throw in the towel as if he has given all he has on the road to the final and got nothing left.

Wimbledon is in the offing and since the French Open final ended sooner than anticipated, thanks to Nadal, they were showing last year's Wimbledon men's final on TV.  Boy was it a match or what?  Andy Roddick in the end lost but he did show he could play in the big league against Roger Federer.  Over the years, I think Roddick shows both humility and maturity.  He stays more focused and cut down a lot of trash talks on and off the court.  I would have thought Brooklyn Decker might have weakened his legs but he seems to be fitter than ever, at least from what I could see last year.  So I hope the guy can win one more Grand Slam title.  Anyway, at least he has the one and only Brooklyn Decker so I really don't worry about him.  Another Andy, Andy Murray still has a lot to prove to himself and his fellow Englishmen to win his first Grand Slam.  Too much pressure does the guy no good.

Stromuhr

If you know how to spell stromuhr, you get a shot to be the National Spelling Bee.

My Re-imagination of a Conversation Between Homer and Langley

Langley:  I am a bit depressed.
Homer: ...
Langley:  I wish I had a sina micro blog account or whatever it's called.
Homer: ...
Langley:  I feel kind of left out.
Homer: ...
Langley  You are really a nobody until you have a sina micro blog account.
Homer: ...
Langley:  No-one has deleted my tweets on twitter.  The truth is nobody actually cares about my tweets.  And sure nobody cares about my foursquare whereabouts, either.  I am sure I'll feel better about myself if my "tweets" actually got deleted over at sina.  Or my account got deleted.  Even better.
Homer: ...
Langley:  You feel like you are dangerous and subversive.  You are important.  I want to be dangerously and subversively important.  I want to be a threat.  Kind of like a rebel.  Kind of like the pen is mightier than the sword.  You know a martyr dying for a cause or something.
Homer: ...
Langley:  You know I can't do the "ultimate sacrifice" like got rolled over by a tank but at least if I can get my posts deleted or even my account deleted that would be great.  I am sure it means something.
Homer:  You suck.

Homer & Langley

Homer & Langley is E. L. Doctorow's re-imagining of a true New York story that spans several decades beginning in the thirties.  Homer is blind while Langley is insane and together the brothers are just insanely blind.  The story, interspersed with historical references and cultural shifts, is narrated by Homer, the younger of the two, who though blind as a bat is acutely perceptive to tell in details their slow descend from riches to rags voluntarily and inevitably after the passing of their well-to-do parents.  The narrative is exceedingly dignified and beautifully poignant, in the end one is left with no choice but to sympathize with the brothers even they were to die in their own filth tragic comedically.


Notes:
p. 139.  "I will not here detail the ... "  It seems like the editor is asleep.
p. 116  "It's no different than always, said Massimo."  Massimo is the son of a gangster so he may not be speaking grammatically "correct" English.  As such he doesn't say "different from" so it may be intentional and not a mistake after all.  Still, I can't get over it.

Nikon F3 and 135mm f2 DC

I saw a fellow shooter with a Nikon F3 and an AF DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2 D lens attached.  Usually I heed my Mom's advice and don't talk to strangers and would only break that vow when that stranger is a fellow shooter.  I complimented his choice of gears and he told me he is from Canada and is visiting NYC for a day and his girlfriend doesn't even know he is here.  Nikon shooters are just cool, aren't they?

We Are Safe, Sort Of

The Williams sisters are out of the singles game .  We (OKAY, I) can breathe a collective sigh of relief not to be tormented by Venus' skanky tennis outfit and rest assured that there won't be any Serena on court outbursts.

4G iPhone: Theft, Extortion and Sex

Jobs on D8 Conference with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher

Jobs thinks they ought to make a movie out of the missing 4G iPhone prototype because it involves stolen property, extortion and probably sex somewhere.  At some point he says he got a lot of advice that "they shouldn't go after a journalist because they bought stolen property and they tried to extort you."  Then he goes on to say he would rather quit than let it slide because something to do with the core values of Apple, so on and so forth.  Even though the case is pending and as he put it it's up to the DA, but I think he really believes or wants to sway the public to believe that it was indeed a theft, sale of stolen property and extortion were involved.  That should keep the Gawker legal department busy

Back To Our Regular Programming

Memorial Day weekend is over.

Venus Williams got knocked off of the French Open.  No more lingerie on clay.  I saw some of the highlights of the match.  She wasn't wearing her lingerie so maybe that's why she lost--she couldn't distract her opponent.  Too bad.

Andy Roddick lost.

Nadal is moving along just fine.  The guy is definitely back to his form.

Mongaup Camp

French Open - The (Almost) Emancipation of the Venus Two

Venus Williams got more than tennis balls to take care of on Roland Garros.  Her boobies (click at your own risk) are at any time going to burst out of her lingerie.  At least it looks that way through out the entire match.  She spends a better part of her court time trying to put them back in their place, plenty of tucking and pulling between plays.  The broadcast is reluctant to show any slow mo of her play out of respect to viewers because not all the viewers have the stomach for this constant booby attack.  Santonja of Spain lost the match largely because of Williams' bouncing booby attack and bare-bottom like flesh color undergarment distraction.  I wonder what the English would do should Williams choose to wear this this whorish outfit in Wimbledon.

Can I Retweet my own Tweets

My tweets are so good I am thinking about retweeting my own tweets.

I Love my Blog

I love all the garbage posts I have here, which is like all of them.  Yes.  I rule.

I Want My Skanky Trinity Back

Picture: Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times.

Longer monochromatic silhouette for newly widowed and grandma

Every summer, I suffer the indignity of sun, heat and all the unpleasantries associated with sweaty limbs of myself and strangers.  The only consolation?  I am amply rewarded by sights of mini-skirts and halter tops as worn by city girls.  But no more.  The New York Times reported today the impending death of the mini and the coming back of the maxi, as in skirt not the pad.  I think the longer monochromatic silhouette always has a market:  the newly widowed and the Grandma.  If what the New York Times says is true, this summer is going to be very very difficult for a lot of people.  I want my Paris, Lindsay, Britney--the skanky trinity, back.

The English Shall Ban Your Stupid Half-Truth Ad

The English on the whole are truthful and honest and above all smarter than you give them credit for.  They have had enough of the French, best exemplified by their Louis Vuitton (note if it's too difficult for some people to comprehend, it's LV) bullshit print ads which show some lily white folks handmaking their merchandise.  The English would have none of it because they just know these are deceitful ads.  Their handbags are just made by machines, think Foxconn without the suicides, instead of by some white hot craft lady as depicted in the ad.  Now the ads are banned.  Truth wins and the English rule.

Picture savaged from Huffington Post, used for illustration.  Copyrights belong to its rightful owner.

French Open

Despite Germany's Andrea Petkovic incessant heartwrenching pleas for Oprah's help, she was beaten by Svetlana Kuznetsova after failing to convert four match points against the Russian on the second set.  Petkovic was heard squeaking "Oprah" through out the entire match.  Alas, Oprah was no where to be seen and even if she was there, I couldn't imagine she could be of any help to the 22-year old once Kuznetsova saved the second set and began to strong-arm the third.

French Open

It looks like both Nadal and Sharpova are back to form.  I don't see Nadal bothered by his knees or his stomach during his first round straight set victory against Frenchman Mina.  As for Sharapova, her outfit is definitely not as haute couture as Venus' but overall it's much easy on the eye.  Anyway back to tennis.  Her serve is in full swing instead of the abbreviated motion she resorted last year.  A sign that her shoulder is relatively healthy.  She has a new coach whom I think should be indefinitely better than her own grumpy old dad cum coach.  On another rather unpleasant turn of event, Safina got beaten on the first round by 39-year-old Krumm from Japan.  Well it's shocking but not totally unexpected as Safina really has a talent in self implosion at the majors.  It's hard to watch her play and unravel before your eye.

Thoughts on Roland Garros

It's not like the French haven't seen any well paved tennis courts before.  The English have well manicured lawn tennis courts (though by the end of the fortnight tournament, all the grass would turn into hay or the courts simply develop large bald spots like some middle aged men), and the American and Australian,always rational and practical, have well cemented hard courts  And what do the Frenchmen do to their tennis courts?  Nothing.  It's basically courts filled with dirt.  Players, some actually millionaires in shorts and skirts, have to suffer the indignity of getting their tennis shoes and socks all caked up with mud for all the world to see.  It just goes to show how ridiculous the Frenchmen can sometimes be.

Still Yet Another Unsolved Mystery at Foxconn

Another day, another suicide at Foxconn.  Nobody knows what's happening inside the factory and those in the know aren't talking--I know this construct is getting long in the tooth.  Well at least somebody was going deep undercover to do some investigative reporting.  Together with the kiddie killing sprees, these Foxconn suicides got to be one of the most mind numbing things happening in China.  Amid all the spectacular growths, there is something disturbingly and depressingly wrong.

PERSONAL UPDATE:
I remember how depressing it was (not exactly, looking back it was almost fun ... the young and cute immigrant girls) when I worked in a factory back in the days when I was at high school.  But luckily when summer was over so was my dead end job there.  It was a small sweatshop making small electrical appliances like battery powered radio in the shape of a cheese burger with questionable or no reliability to speak of for export to the US.  I think I sometimes over tightened the screw so much so that the cover cracked or I just soaked the circuit board for too long, or I cut the legs of those electrical components like resisters and god-know-what too close I even cut the circuit board on purpose.  In short, I just felt like to sabotage the operation whenever I could in my own pathetic ways.  The older foreman in charge of us sucked and that was half expected.  Most members of the crew were like me, teenagers, young men and women but unlike me they were toiling there sort of permanently while I knew I was there just for the summer despite what I told them I was there for forever.  At the end of the summer when I left that god forsaken place for good, I rather cowardly removed the company directory at the lobby when nobody was around and threw it away in the garbage.

Yet Still Another Unsolved Mystery at Home

I set my DVR to record the French Open but it didn't record anything yesterday.  Weird.  I want to see more of Venus' tennis cum lingerie outfit though I don't think she was scheduled to play yesterday, but just saying.  I sort of caught up with the action from the newspapers on my commute to work.

One Mystery Solved ...
After paying some $300 dollars to change the valve that regulates water inflow to the boiler, we were finally able to stop the boiler from overflowing.  So mystery solved.

Yet Another Unsolved Hong Kong Mystery

Gordon Brown was caught calling someone that "bigoted woman," probably because of her remark and rhetoric question on immigration: "All these Eastern Europeans that are coming here. Where are they flocking from?"  And for whatever reason, "bigoted woman" was translated by some of the Hong Kong news outlets as "老虔婆."  That I guess I will never understand why.  I just don't find any sense of the word bigoted from the Chinese translation but as usual I could be wrong--I am covering my hiney here.

Lost

The only surprising thing about the Lost finale is it is actually stupider than I thought.

Tennis, France and Lingerie

Venus Williams loves her lingerie so much so that she just wears it to the first round of Roland Garros.  What's more spectacular than Venus' tennis is her tennis outfit which never fails to shock and awe the spectators.  Her only competition in that department?  Her little sister, Serena Williams.

Photo Laurent Rebours - AP via Washington Post

Peony

Guess estimated the exposure.  Hand held manual focus.  Though no macro, but the 50mm does allow me to focus kind of close enough.

Swing

Shot using Nikon D70, and manual Nikkor 50mm f1.4.  My ancient Nikon D70 is still doing its job.  And my even ancient-er lens is functioning like the first day I bought it.

Eating Habits

I eat food left in the refrigerator for years.  The food is fine because it is full of preservatives.

Zany Bands

Zany Bands are taking over New York City.  Watch out.

Handball Court

This appears a bit too grainy for a 125 film. Possible reasons:

1. This is the way it is
2. Wrong exposure when taking the picture
3. Wrong developing, HC-110 working solution, develop time, agitation and temperature are off.
4. Scanning problem, sharpening added
5. All of the above

I suspect it's number 3. I mix HC-110 concentrate at 1:49 for 500ml to develop two rolls of 135 in a steel tank, for a total of 8 minutes. The temperature is more like 70F instead of 68F. So I don't know if I have developed it for too long. The Kodak 125PX seems to have this "problem." Whereas the Fuji Acros 100 seems finer even I believe I developed it in the same routine. I am pretty bad at controlling the variables.

UPDATE:
5/20/10
Looks like the comment is screwed up, and I shall totally blame it on wp2007.

Thoughts on This Minor Shitstorm That is Called By-election

Another email I intercepted and savaged from the Internet gutter.  Unlike me, whoever penned this knows what he is talking about.

I really like the idea that young people are getting involved. If she (zhou cheng) was in my district, I would have voted for her. Second, in parliamentary politics, the name of the game is to get elected, and then  get re-elected and get even. To sabotage the system, you have to be in the parliament, as said by Lenin long time ago. So the right move now is to accept the government's proposal and fight for the extra ten seats. Long live Lenin! But if you guys are (1) frolicking with an ex-student in a sofa bought by your wife, (2) hiding under a hotel bed of your ex-lover, instead of voting this past Sunday, then I am mightily disappointed.

I really have nothing to add to it.  OKAY, I do.  I remember something I read some time ago, it goes something like illusion is a powerful half-truth, it affects how people act and hence the character of a society.  Nobody thinks that there was ever or is democracy in Hong Kong, past or present, and yet people want to believe in it.

iPhone Leak Latest Devlopment

The iPhone prototype will get you into a whole lot of trouble.  Based on court unsealed documents, Apple did play an active role in the police investigation of the lost and found iPhone prototype.  Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, called Brain Lam, editor of Gizmodo for the safe return of the prototype but was declined unless Gizmodo received written confirmation from Apple that the prototype was indeed Apple's property.  In the unsealed document Brain Lam sent Jobs an email which was supposedly off the record--is there even such a thing, off the record, claiming that Apple PR has been cold to Gizmodo and affects his ability to do his job and prefacing that they have nothing to lose.  And in closing he says he wants to work closer with Apple.  Wow, does it sound like a thinly veiled threat to Jobs and Apple?  I am not sure but it certainly doesn't sound too friendly and all.

Well, too bad.  Apple and Jobs can't be bullied to work with anybody.

I think this case comes down to Is there a theft?  Does Gizmodo purchase stolen property?  Does Gizmodo divulge trade secret?  And Gizmodo's First Amendment Right?  Or something.

via Cnet

Nexus One, Fail?

Even Google itself is not selling the Nexus One, so it does say something about the phone itself or the marketing of it by Google.  If you are an avid Internet surfer, then you perhaps have noticed that according to some early adopters of Nexus One, the phone is plagued with 3G and touch issues that Google has failed to address or has been ignoring. And Google even suggests people to get HTC's none too humble Incredible Android phone.  So what's in the future for Nexus One?  Nobody really knows for sure but my guess is it can't be too rosy.

Tennis

The paid develop and scan was poorly executed.  See the dripping watermark on the left?  I don't know what happened.

On Alex:  American Optical original pilot sunglasses with bayonet arms.

UPDATE:
Guys, click the label "taxi driver" below for more American Optical and Randolph Engineering information.

Adobe Loves Apple

In a move that can only be characterized as awkwardly stupid, Adobe takes out a full page print ad, on B9 in The New York Times, proclaiming its love for APPLE.  What a pussy!  After getting slammed by Apple's CEO, don't they have any shame at all?  Why can't they act more like HTC, just sue Apple already or at least shows some backbone.  The fawningly submissive ad title is just repulsive and no amount of counterattack in the last sentence can savage the lameness of this ad.

Oil Spill and Stock Market Crash

What do oil spill and the stock market crash have in common?  Nothing except nobody really knows what happened.

HTC Sues Apple

HTC can't be bullied.  HTC is suing Apple for patent infringement and asks for a ban on Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod products.  It seems like everybody who is somebody is suing anything that moves.  Apple sued HTC in March.

A Moment in Time

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/03/blogs/a-moment-in-time.html

Hong Kong directly ...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/03/blogs/a-moment-in-time.html?hp#/4bde3a9fe55ae50c670003f4

If they don't work, figure it out yourself.  If you can't figure it out yourself, then forget it.

Brown Out in England

Gordon Brown did the right thing and let the country move on.

Stock Market Explosive Diarrhea

The near 1,000 point drop remains another unsolved American mystery.  Nobody knows what happened and those in the know of course aren't talking.  Rumors have it that some trader at Citigroup might have inadvertently punched in billion instead of the intended million.  Now I ain't part of Wall Street so I don't know if this scenario is plausible or not.  Or we can just blame it on the Greeks or the British election.  In any event, maybe somebody somewhere has made tons of money out of this abrupt explosive stock diarrhea.

UK Wakes up to a Well Hung Parliament.

UK wakes up to a, well, hung Parliament.
Just as predicted by the exit polls and various pundits before and during the election, Gordon Brown is leading his Labour Party to defeat.  Not so as predicted is Nick Clegg isn't doing as well as people thought he and his Liberal Democrat party might be.  It's still very much a two-party world across the pond and the Conservatives are winning in this election.

Stupid Bigoted Judge Makes a Fool out of Herself

China's answer to Taiwan's Lin Yu Chun, sort of.

This is almost agonizing to watch.  I give credit to the kid who remains courteous and humble through this very public shaming--call for human flesh search and gender testing.  In the end, it is the judge who really makes a fool out of herself.  She handily shows the world how ignorant, arrogant and prejudiced she is.  She has absolutely no respect for the contestant, the other two judges, the producer, the audience and probably humanity in general.

British Election 2010

BBC live stream, found via The New York Times.

General Tsai's Chicken

Errr, I think it's more like General Tso's Chicken, at least according to Wiki which is like authoritative enough for me.

Shanghai Thick Noodle

Scallion Pancakes

Soup Dumplings

Just Another Morning

The Reader

Midtown Oasis

Rambo's Choice of Jeans: Lee

In Rambo II, John Rambo wears Lee jeans, right before he accepts the mission to be a photographer though I can't even see him carrying any photo gears.  Back to the Lee jeans.  It was the genuine type with cross bartacks on the back pockets.  Now in America, they only sell the ugliest Lee Jeans, if it's not ugly, they simply don't sell it.

Need I Say More

 

via:  Tokyocamerastyle.com, sort of the camera's Sartorialist but without the irritating ellipsis abuse.

Thoughts on GS

Here is an email exchange, well not much of an exchange as it's rather lopsided,  I pilfered from some inbox and I would share it with my readers here.

QUOTE
For one thing, I do think the relationship between GS and the government is way too close. This GOVERNMENT SACHS organisation is not good for the country. For another, those guys left holding the can are just dumb. They are not doing their homework. I have to say that the GS guys are just smarter (relatively speaking though) than those stupid [redacted]. GS knows how to play the system. They know how the rating agencies work. Hire the agency executives and make sure all that crap is triple A. Their former senior executives are World Bank president and Treasury secretaries. They are very well connected. Specifically, in that Abacus deal, they just wear too many hats. There are big conflicts of interest. There is nothing wrong in market making. But in the context of a Senate hearing, the GS executive (Daniel Sparks) looked rather bad by prevaricating. It was a photo opp for the senators by slamming the bankers. [redacted]. I know how this company works or for that matter, how Wall Street works. If the company has to unwind their long positions (duds), then the sales have to push all  the crap out. How can Mr Sparks say he is working in the best interest of his clients? All he could say was "trying his best to serve his clients".  In a forum like this, rightly or wrongly, GS would never come out ok. The people's court has made its decision already. As a company, GS was not like this [redacted] in 1994. It has changed for the worse after the IPO. It is going downhill.
>
>
>
> did you follow the Assault on Goldman Sachs or Capitalism going on on the Senate  I almost feel sorry for the Goldman dudes.  Now all of a sudden those god damn senators care and trying to be self righteous.  Give me a break.  They were all asleep when the thing imploded.  Goldman was the smartest guy amongst the pact.  They probably would have more regulations after this mortgage backed securities bs so the rank and file would suffer more.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
UNQUOTE

Jobs Absolute Disdain on Adobe

Jobs goes on record expressing his absolute disdain for Adobe and Adobe's Flash.  It's a great read and a revelation on how Jobs picks his technology, at least on the record.  I have to go check Adobe's stock price now .... down 70 cents while Apple ups more than 2 bucks.

Nikon FE

I finally bought a couple of SR44 batteries for my FE.  What can I say, the more I use the other camera, the more I like my FE.  This couple of batteries probably would last another decade if not longer.  I really don't remember any problem with my FE other than the time I got it wrecked in a car accident with my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.  I was playing with my FE and MD-12 last night.  And again, something I should have been pretty sure but I just don't.  The camera battery is still needed for the meter and shutter (except for B and M90) even you have a fully powered motor drive MD-12 attached.  The FE is just an unbelievably reliable fine piece of engineering triumph.  The meter display makes sense, the shutter makes sense, the double exposure makes sense, the self-timer makes sense, the MD-12 motor drive makes sense.  It just kicks ass now, then and probably forever.

2 Duracell D357H MS76, it's rated 1.5 (or 1.55V according to their technical publication).  I paid $5.99 for each.  I like products or brands that are anal retentive about their technical data and give full support and publication of such data on the Web.  They are installed on 4/28/2010.

Nikon Nikkor 200 - 400 f/4

This thing weighs 118.5 oz. or more than 7 pounds.  You need to get one of this and carry it around to find out how healthy you actually are.  It has an estimated selling price of $6,999.95.  What surprises me most, and you know I am easily surprise-able given how ignorant I am, the thing takes a 52mm filter.  What?  A 52mm filter?  I thought it would take a 72mm filter at the very least (OKAY, it must be some drop-in kind of filter that is not screwed on in the front).  This monster of a lens will be available some time later in May, just don't hold your breadth.

Now all I need is a 18MP Nikon DSLR, that's simple, solidly built, and costs less than $1000 to own.  All I can do is dream on.

PowerPoint: is it so Bad? Yes

A slide that shocks and awes and above anything else epitomizes everything that is wrong with PowerPoint.  PowerPoint slide illustrates different dynamics America faces in Afghanistan.  Source:  The New York Times web site.

Out of no where, the New York Times has a front page, above the fold article about PowerPoint and how the military uses it grudgingly.

I don't use PowerPoint, I don't know PowerPoint but I just have a healthy disdain for people who spend lots of time making PowerPoint slides.  In my mind, it's a colossal waste of time.  One spends so much time fixing the slides instead of attacking the problems that one is supposed to solve.

Am I a Journalist?

Are bloggers journalists?  There are of course ramifications to the answer of this question.  Are journalists more protected or just equally protected for their First Amendment rights?  Can authorities seize Jason Chen's computers by means of a warrant?  Or should it have been a subpoena because he is a blogger and hence a journalist?  We will find out.

And back to the very post title I ask myself.  I guess I am flattering myself by even asking this very question.  The end.

Holy Cow! Police Involved in Lost and Found iPhone Prototype

Police Seize Jason Chen's Computers.

The World is not Enough of Avatard

The DVD, Blu-ray, VHS. Betamax and HD-DVD, OKAY, not the HD-DVD, are flying off the shelf.  James Cameron's Avatar epic cartoon is making news once again on DVD and Blu-ray sales.  I am sure it would make record again when the 3D Blu-ray comes out some time later during Christmas.

They are the Same

... Yet they are all different.

What to do Riding up an Elevator

How to avoid awkward social contact and pleasantry exchange when riding up an elevator with fellow co workers in the morning.

 Blackberry or handheld obsessed:-

• Even you are two minutes away from your desktop, you can't wait to whip out your Blackberry pretending to be reading and replying emails, showing off your thumb typing skills.
• Listen to your music and make sure the volume is high enough to broadcast your good music taste.
• Twitter update.

For those without handheld device as a prop:-

• Pretend you are looking for something in your bag.
• Pretend to be reading the New York Times.
• Pretend to be reading the Wall Street Journal.
• Pretend to be reading some top ten novel.  Don't read it on a iPad or a Kindle, because they are a conversation piece.  It's conversation you want to avoid.
• Pretend to be reading some self help books (if you want to look like a loser, go ahead, any five simple ways, or the last self help book would broadcast yourself as a loser.  Even if you read it on an iPad or a Kindle, you are still a loser, just a well to do loser).

For those without any props or bags:-

• Keep looking at the buttons.
• Keep looking at your own nose.
• Alternate between looking at the buttons and your nose

 Have a nice ride everybody.

Left Hand Grip Cameras

I never understood the need of a left hand grip camera until now.  I should have gotten any one of those Pentax 6x7 or Mamiya Press Universal cameras.  They all have nice left hand grips.  It's not too late to get one, or two, I guess.  I need the Mamiya Universal, with Polaroid back, 6x7, 6x9 backs and all the lenses out there, and of course, the left hand pistol grip with shutter release.  Perfect setup.

Iceland, What Good Are You?

As if the world has not suffered enough because of Bjork, now Iceland is giving us Eyjafjallajokull.  When Eyjafjallajokull farts everybody is grounded.  I think the EU should start fining Iceland for exporting Bjork and now volcanic ashes.

Apple Hits $250

I told you so.  Back in December 2009, I already predicted Apple's stock price would hit over $250 in mid year.  And here it is, not even mid-year.  The stock is at $258.  OKAY, I am going to be a day trader from here on now.  See you guys.

Gizmodo Did Get the Next Gen iPhone

Gizmodo is on fire.  Tech gossip, rumor and fun site Gizmodo scored big when it got its hand on the next iPhone prototype.  See it for yourself at their site.  The latest being Apple actually sent a letter to Gizmodo to claim back the lost iPhone prototype, confirming that it is indeed an Apple property not any knock-off iPhony from China or the like.  Above anything else, Gizmodo seems to be pleading with Apple not to fire the engineer, Gray Powell who supposedly lost the super secret phone on his birthday after much partying and German beers.  I think that was very thoughtful and kind of Gizmodo.

Kick-Ass Did Kick Ass

Last week's box office number one spot was so contentious that the result couldn't be finalized until Monday.  Or people are just so bad at math that they couldn't count right the first time.  Anyway, Kick-Ass is somehow vindicated.  The fake superhero picture headlined by Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz claimed the much coveted number one spot at its weekend debut knocking off the much beloved 3D How to Train Your Dragon movie which briefly was believed to be the number one movie for the past weekend.
I like the movie.  It stands on its own pretty well.  It embraces the genre and yet at the same time flip it upside down to add a certain freshness to it.  Aaron Johnson delivers a very earnest performance as the title character who apparently takes on more than he can chew as a self appointed masked vigilante.  Chloe Mortez is cut out to be the Hit-Girl, the swagger, the bravado, and her sweet pottymouth all make her pint sized Hit-Girl believable and even lovable.  And despite all the controversy, I don't think she is all that foul mouthed as the trailers made her to be.  Probably her utterance is no natural that I don't even notice anything oddly strange about an 11-year old girl uttering expletives.  With an R rating and pervasive violence, I don't think it's going to do well in the box office but then I think it does have an appreciative audience as I am one of them.

Photography is Not for Girly Man

If you think you are carrying too much equipments on a family trip, you are a girly man.  You shouldn't take up photography to begin with.

Kick-Ass Got Its Ass Kicked

Kick-Ass got its ass kicked by the 3D Dragon movie.  Despite pre-release hype, controversy and positive reviews from fans, the movie failed to monetize its notoriety, only debuted at number two in the weekend box office.  The movie is rated R.

Michael Jackson Oil Painting Got No Bid

This is a follow-up post. Nobody bids early or bids often. Actually nobody bids at all. There is no love for the King. The auction for a painting of the King of Pop has received zero bid from the eBay crowd  I wish the Canon FD or Nikon lenses are like that, instead all these very stupid buyers really bid early and bid often. Please people smart up, don't bid early don't bid often, don't be a jerk jacking up the price.

Take Stock

Incidentally, the upside down Chinese character rightly describes what I have been going through for the last two months.

Light Seal Replacement for Canon New F-1

Though the Canon New F-1 (damn Canon for their stupid naming, couldn't they think after a few years, everything called New is not new anymore) is my latest addition to my ever growing meager camera collection,  I think I just got to know it better than the rest of the members.  I got to see its more naked body more intimately.  I just did a light seal replacement for it.  So it's like brand new now (of course not).  There is not a lot of seal to remove and replace.  One on the hinge, one in the mirror box, and two thin ones running along the camera body where the film door closes onto the body.  I used some 75% rubbing alcohol to remove the dead gummy foam and then replaced them with something I ordered on eBay.  These are cutups specifically made for the Canon New F-1.  So there is no measuring and  minimal cutting.  Overall the instruction is OKAY but it could be better.  But it's really not that complicated.  The foam on the mirror box used to be just barely there now it's pretty well dampened.  So overall I am pretty happy with this $10 purchase.  The price seems a bit high for the little material in the envelop but it works well and it's just the price of a decent lunch, plus the vendor is fast and responsive, so in the end I can't really complain.

Are You a Righty or a Lefty

Unless you have lived under a rock, no Internet access, do not watch TV, or in general a luddite then you might not know who Lin is.  But somehow you have the good fortune to access this, this stupendous blog by me.  And here is my video to you, an interview of Lin.  So, in the end everything boils down to the final question, " ... so until now you are still a virgin?"  All the interviewers care is to make him admit he is a virgin.  Good job.  Why don't they ask him if he is a righty or a lefty when jerking off?  I want to know too.  I think after this, it would be a standard question for all the new up and coming young singers.

Slip of the Press

How the SCMP screwed up so badly flummoxed the most seasoned pundits (except me because I just know everything).  But it certainly screwed up big time, like on the front page, like messing up with the president of the most powerful, most authoritarian country.  Chinese President Hu Jintao was inadvertently turned into Hu Jia, a dissident turned jailbird for subverting state authority or whatever crime the Chinese government says he committed.
Meanwhile the same publication charges its online content, I guess, for journalistic excellency.  If anything, I think the SCMP is morphing itself into The Onion, only less funny but it's a step in the right direction.  Or just trying to be subversive like Hu Jia.
To prevent blunder like this happening again, I offer SCMP two words:  Perry Lam.  As far as I know Lam has been obsessive compulsive in his Chinese to English translation.  I bet he can do English to Chinese just as good.

via duke of aberdeen's tweet  and ESWN

Crazy Summer Movie Preview

Angelina Jolie's out-of-this-world* humongous lips are going to grace the big screen this summer.  Her if-look-could-kill-I-would-be-dead larger-than-life* presence would no doubt kill all the competitions in the box office.  Her Salt character was originally written for a guy, shocking, with Tom Cruise at some point tagged as the leading title character.  Cruise not to be out done, is having his super action flick coming out as well.  He teams up with hottie Cameron Diaz in Knight and Day.  Cruise never ever short changes his fans, you always get more from the guy.  Between Jolie's lips and Cruise/Diaz brand of actions and super hotness, who are you going to pick?  Hmmm ....


*Thanks Snowdrops for pointing them out.  I should have written them properly in the first place.

iPad Saving World Economy

iPad is saving the world economy, that is, in addition to the lice specialists I mentioned several posts earlier.  Even bad news is good news.  International delivery of this shiny newish device is delayed due to strong demand in the US market--Apple says it has shipped more than 500,000 of them and has a large number of pre-orders on its soon to be released 3G versions.  Everybody pretends to hate America or American consumerism, but nothing induces so much worldwide adulation like a good piece of shiny ware designed in Cupertino and manufactured in China by a Taiwanese company.  Apple stock goes up more than $2 on the delivery delay.

Hit-Girl Kicks Ass

If you think Natalie Portman in Leon is bad, Chiaki Kuriyama in Kill Bill is badass, wait till you see Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass.  Chloe Mortez is so bad she is actually good.  Her performance is going to cross all the lines set by her forebears.  She slices and dices like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and shoots two guns like Chow Yun Fat in A Better Tomorrow.  And the most disturbing thing?  She is so pottymouthed  she actually resembles real grade/middle school girls you see on the NYC subway.

My Blog is a Row of Urinals

Having sitemeter is a very humbling experience.  It basically confirms what I've already known for years and I shall not repeat here.  One of the many features sitemeter offers is it tracks how long a visitor stays and the referring URL, if any.  In my case most of the visitors from referrals would stay for so short a time that sitemeter can't even track other than giving me a nonsensical 0:00 time.  I always compare those cases to a mental picture of a woman she thought she was being told where the ladies' room was but once she opened the door, she saw a row of urinals and she quickly left.  Well there are exceptions, ladies who got turned on by seeing a row of urinals when least expected.  But that certainly is in the minority.

Signs Recession Is Over

Families are spending $300 to $500 a head to hire lice specialists to clean up lice infected grade schooler heads.  A lice killing shampoo from CVS costs $6.99.

Apple sells 300,000 iPads on the first day.  A beautiful shiny piece of design with a price tag from $499 to $699 that can potentially elevate your social standing.

You know it is crazy but true when Pulitzer winning New York Times reports it.

My Beloved Canon G3

A meager 4MP camera.

Twitter

One great thing about Twitter is you don't even have to pretend you know how to write in sentences and paragraphs.

Bid Early, Bid Often

Just don't do it.  What it does is it jacks up the price early on, it benefits not the buyer but the seller and eBay.  I don't know why would any bidder in his right mind would do such a thing--bid early bid often.  Please stop doing it.

Diana's Revenge

Below is guest blogged.

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a field trip during March. I saw many wonderful works of art there. One piece of artwork that fascinated me was the tapestry of Diana and Acteon. In my report, I will tell you about this wonderful work of art.

As I said, this tapestry is called Diana and Acteon. The artist that made this piece of artwork was named Jean Jans II. This tapestry was woven in Paris, France at the Altier of Jean Jans the Younger near the Gobelins. The culture that this tapestry described was the Romans.

I chose this work of art because it described a Greek/Roman myth. I think that these myths are cool and interesting because they usually have a god or goddess upset. I’m always eager to find out what happens to the person that messed with the god/goddess. Something that inspired me to pick this tapestry was the Percy Jackson series. The series were based on Greek Mythology and I wanted to find more about the Greek and Roman myths. (I really liked the Percy Jackson books)

This tapestry shows Diana (also known as Artemis, goddess of the hunt) taking a bath in the forest with nymphs. Acteon, the man hidden in the trees was secretly watching Diana. When Diana found out, she was not happy. She turned Acteon into a stag/deer. In the tapestry it shows Acteon with antlers on his head to show he was turning into a deer. Then, Diana had his own hunting dogs kill him. The dogs were probably thinking, boy, this deer is sure dumb. It walked right in front of me. I get a free meal without doing any work! Hmm, huh, there’s something strange going on… hey, where’s Acteon?! Am I seeing things because I see an Acteodeer! But I am going to eat it anyway. I think Diana was a bit too cruel. If I were Diana, I would warn or threaten Acteon first like this “Get out of here or I’ll turn you into your dog’s lunch or something like that.” However, watching someone take a bath is a bit, well, not right, right?

I learned from seeing this piece from the tour that the people from long ago would hang tapestries such as this one as a decoration on the wall. This makes sense because where would you put it, under your couch? Tapestries also help trap heat in the house. Also, I learned to never watch gods or goddesses while they are taking a shower in the forest… if I ever encounter one of them. (Just joking) I also learned that Artemis can be called Diana instead of Artemis.

I hope you learned a lot about Diana and Acteon in my report and had fun reading it. Here’s a picture of Diana and Acteon.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/2497782735/sizes/l/

The Painting We All Have Been Waiting For

With a low starting bid of US$2,750,000.00 and a Buy It Now price of US$5,400,000.00.

Portrait of Michael Jackson

For those Michael Jackson diehards, here is your chance to get a piece of Jackson memorabilia.  AP reports that a one of a kind painting is be auctioned off on eBay with a starting bid of $2.75 million (what a bargain).  I think it probably takes PayPal too?  The painting is not listed as of the writing of this blog post.  Meanwhile on another unrelated news, the murder acquittal Armani ensemble OJ Simpson wore on his infamous double murder trial of the century got donated to Newsuem in Washington DC.  Next time when you are in DC you can check out OJ's lucky suit that got him off the hook.

Annie Lebovitz: Famed Deadbeat Photographer

Lebovitz got sued yet again for money owed.  I don't know how she got into this financial mess, but she sure does.  Most working photographers can't get the kind of money she got, in fact, on average, a photographer makes about $45,000 a year, with wedding photographer making close to $230,000 on the high end of the pay scale and children photographer trails last making less than $20,000 a year [source].  But Annie is not your average photographer, some say her gig at Vanity Fair earns her more than $2 million a year.  Apparently the money she makes is big enough to get her into financial trouble and yet too little to bail herself out.  I think Tim Geithner is her only hope now.

Jefferson Memorial

The cheesy Jefferson Memorial shot during the cherry blossom bloom.