Some JPEGs from some Nikkor 58mm f/1.4

These are some bad pictures taken with the good good Nikkor 58mm f/1.4  Now you can see why they don't let people like me shoot their lenses.  Oh well.  Don't ask me the settings.

Shooting Sony a7R in Haiti

I guess if you shoot what he shoots then it's perfect.  Image looks good and it shoots pretty well too.  I like a larger real optical view finder but I guess I can't have it.  I don't remember but I think most of his shots are done on some Carl Zeiss 55mm.

UPDATE:  I believe the gentleman is James Duncan Davidson or Duncan Davidson.  Nice guy.  This being a full frame 36MP camera wilth a killer sensor and taken with a Carl Zeiss lens, and display on a possibly Sony 4K monitor and not to take anything away from the photographer behind the camera, i.e. the very multi talented Mr. Davidson, Brian Smith, the pictures are just immaculately detailed.  Correction:  It's Brian Smith not Duncan Davidson. Not Cuba but Haiti. By now, you should know you shouldn't believe a word I say. http://briansmith.com/sony-a7r-field-test/

Some JPEGs from Sony a7R

I don't remember anything, not the lens not the settings.  On the EXIF, the Make is "SONY" and Model is just "MODEL-NAME"  I don't think this is a production model.

Sony a7R

just click the label below to see more of Sony a7R ...

The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster is Hong Kong based director Wong Kar-wai's latest film in years.  This US release is 108-minute short, compared to the 130-minute premiered in China and the 123-minute played in the Berlin film festival.  This release has added on-screen explanatory texts, voice-overs and chronological story editing to help the stupid and attention deficit American audience understand the film.  It's hard to ignore the back story of the movie:  Tony Leung broke every bone preparing and pretending to fight,  Wong spent fifty years researching the movie, twenty years shooting haphazardly, ten contemplating and flip-flopping between a singular or a plural English title, and yet another ten on cutting, pasting and rearranging footage into something that resembles a film.  Of course, in the process, miles of footage were left on the cutting room floor, egos were bruised.  The back story takes on a life itself and completely overshadows the actual movie.

When the flag drops the bull shit stops.

The Grandmaster is a distillation of Wong's lyrical style of film making, beautifully and unapologetically rendered from cinematography, wardrobe, sound, music to of course the beautiful actors.  Kung-fu saves Yip Man, the title character, literally and spiritually, carries him through tumultuous times.  The film is peppered with pithy aphorisms.  Yip says kung-fu is just two words: horizontal and vertical, in the end, the one lies horizontal loses, the vertical one standing wins and he is the right one.  This is simplistic to a fault and almost offensive to boil down kung fu to street fighting level.  Or not?  Given the chance to be a collaborator during the Sino-Japanese war, he chooses to endure hardships rather than joining the Japanese.  Yip is pragmatic that if he fights he wants and needs to win.  He later flees Futshan to Hong Kong.  Not exactly heroic but sure pragmatic.  Yip was born to a very well-to-do family, he thinks it's only fair for him, in his forties, to experience hardship and starvation like most everybody else during wartime.  His twin daughters are later starved to death.  The Grandmaster is about kung-fu as much as Casablanca is about WWII.  Kung-fu is an integral part but there is more:  Wong's perennial theme of unrequited and unconsummated love.  Yip is a married man when he first meets Gong Er, played by Zhang Ziyi, the daughter of a kung-fu master from the North.  Gong Er is a master in her own right and her relationship with Yip is really love at first fight.  Gong tries to avenge the honor of her family by fighting Yip.  The fight, set indoor, more like a mating dance, is at once mesmerizing and borderline cheesy.  Wong Kar-wai just couldn't help himself having his slo-mo and close-up shots of the fine boned Zhang.  (Who could anyway?  Ang Lee couldn't either.)  Yip and Gong don't meet again until years later in Hong Kong but only to say fair well.  In between bad things happen to good people.  Gong Er's father is killed by his lead disciple Ma San and to avenge his death, Gong Er vows never get married or having any disciples in front of the Buddha (if she succeeds avenging the death of her father).  Be careful what you wish for.  Gong Er kills Ma though not without seriously getting hurt, which later leads to her opium addiction and ultimate demise.  At some point, Gong Er's house servant urges her to abandon her vow to Buddha as she is in Hong Kong, leading a brand new life in a brand new world, nobody knows any vow, implicitly suggesting her to be with Yip.  Gong, always strong willed, refuses because "heaven knows, earth knows."  She lives and dies by her own code of honor.  The tea house farewell between her and Yip is achingly beautiful and Zhang gives a knockout performance quietly but equally powerful like any kick she delivers, right to the heart of the audience.  Yip lives the life of kung-fu, the last man standing, vertical.

If style is the substance, is there no style over substance?  In this day and age, anything goes nothing matters, people pee, poop in public, disregard etiquette, manner even humanity among each other, it is refreshing and heartening to see a film that takes its style seriously and be reminded that once upon a time there are Chinese people who live honorable lives.

Bicycling

I was the original hipster.  I rode a fixed gear, with freewheeling, the only kind I knew for the longest time.  It wasn't until much later did I realize that there were actually bikes that could change gears and can cost over $100.  Surprise!

My father taught me how to ride.  I was 8 or 9 years old, in the football field.  The only protective gear I wore was a pair of Chelsea boots my mom got from god know where.  My father gave me a push and some words wisdom--like brake the back wheel not the front.  The next thing I knew I was in a ditch next to the football field.  We repeated this a few times until I was able to stay away from the ditch.  It was such an accomplishment that I didn't kill myself, bruises and cuts sure.  The worst accident shortly after I learned how to ride was I ran into a pregnant woman.  She was all right, more worried about me than herself.  Why didn't I brake?  Perhaps I used the back brake like my Dad had told me?  Blame it on Dad.  Actually I just read that front braking with the proper technique is the way to go but I always thought braking front would throw one off over the handle bar.

I remember I rode to primary school.  My friends (cool hipsters as well and like me totally oblivious they were hipsters) and I would just do some crazy stunts nonchalantly before school, during recess and after school, like dropping down a slope and coming back up sideways, hopefully; or tried to knock each other down using the back wheel or simply ran at each other.  Back then wearing a helmet bicycling was unheard of and probably a laughable idea.  After school and before dinner I would ride to pick up my sisters from the main roadway when they came back from work and ferried them home in the backseat, one at a time.  When I was waiting for their buses, I would just do some "fish tailing"--braking the rear wheel while turning.  I enjoyed that.

Fast forward to middle school.  The original hipsters still rode their bikes on and off.  My parents had promised me a new bike when I got to middle school.  I think they tried to talk me out of it, monetary or otherwise, but in the end they relented.  I rode my bike to school like so many other kids.  I don't think we did stunts any more not regularly like we were in primary school anyway.

At post secondary school, I moved out only returned home in the weekends.  Me and my flatmates would ride for fun.  I don't quite remember how we got our bikes.  Back then bikes were just bikes: utilitarian and proletarian or I didn't know better.  Nowadays bikes are works of art and objects of desire that can cost a small fortune.  They were just regular bikes but I remember I rode it down some concrete stoop with three or four steps as if it was a small BMX.  And one time I rode it when the brakes were not working.  I think I deliberately crashed it in the underground pedestrian tunnel going down slope and making a turn.  The wheel was all banged up.  I had to push the bike back home.

My affair with the bike effectively ended when I moved to New York.  Bicycling is an acquired and non perishable skill.  Maybe I will start biking again, minus the crazy stunts.

Brothers

Untitled

Untitled

Fried Chicken

This is supposed to be southern fried chicken.  I am not quite sure what makes Southern Southern.  The recipe is a search result returned by Google, where else?  Maybe it's my range I don't think the cooking time was right for me.  It almost calls for double the time I used which was already a bit much as the chicken was dark rather than golden brown, not burnt but just a bit on the dark side.   I cooked 6 min on each side.  The meat was really well cooked except the skin got darker than I like, that's all.  I used regular milk rather than butter milk and no attempt was made to measure anything.  I was very liberal when it comes to seasoning, salt, black pepper, chili flakes, cayenne pepper, paprika ....  The last time I made it the boys loved it.

蘇打綠 sodagreen -【我好想你】MV 官方完整版

Random Shot

Shot at f/2.8 using my Nikon 20-35 f/2.8.  The autofocus, despite not AF-S, seems to be quite robust.

Fruity Cereal Cookie

If you like candily sweet then go for it I am not stopping you.

Momofuku Ramen

My wife was wondering how they can make the poached egg so neat sitting pretty on the noodle ... the answer my friend is the eggs are poached in individual holders separately and later transported to the bowl of ramen.  Everything is done right.  I am glad my wife stopped me ordering two.  One is definitely enough.  We don't want a surfeit of food and stuff ourselves silly with pork belly.

Pork Buns

Why one less pork?  I guess it might just as well for health sake perhaps.  This is as good as if not better than we thought.  The pork belly melts and seems not heavy at all.  You can easily eat too much before you even you realize it.

Heirloom tomato salad

This is a good one with good acidity and sweetness.  Can go a bit easy on the salt though.  I like the tomatoes and other "exotic" ingredients.  The presentation is nice without overly fuzzy.

Man at work

Chef preparing our tomato salad.  Guy has these retro glasses on a la Terry Richardson.

Heirloom tomato salad

Like the ingredients and the acidity.  At momofuku noodle bar.  We were seated at the bar got to witness the  intense action inside the open kitchen.

Breakfast

Basil and tomatoes from backyard.

Random Pictures

George Lam or His song or both Considered "stale" by Some

I can't believe George Lam would ever be associated with "old soil."  But hey you never know.  I am also intrigued by the fact that one can actually complain about how "old soil" a song is to some government agencyTVB.  (I guess I got confused and mixed up with another reportage on the same article about Rubber Band or eraser or something)  Judging from Lam's getup below, there might be cause for concern.  I guess he can do whatever he wants, because you know he is Ah Lam.  He seems to be wearing the same jacket and pants since 1945, oh well.  And personally, I wouldn't button up the bottom button of any jacket, ever.  But that's just me.

 Photo from mingpaonews.com

Urban Cycling

Photos processed by Instagram
These shots were taken with a manual Nikkor 105 f/2.5 lens.  I was waiting for the bus and why not gave it a try.  I was actually quite happy with the some of the shots.
Then today I thought maybe with my usual Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 I should be getting more keepers.  I actually missed a bus while I kept myself busy looking for my shot.  Too bad all of them came out no good.

Middle School Graduation

This is a difficult shot, I was giving up but I am glad I didn't.

Graduation ... Almost

Candies

Some Books

Large JPEG Basic

Mister Harry

Straight from the camera JPEG Basic.

Random Picture

The lens is the first AF lens I bought after having my Nikon F5 imported from the future.  I don't use this lens enough.  When I got my D70 I got it as a package with the 18-70, so this lens doesn't get a lot of use at all.  I think it's a good lens, though in my mind, a bit bland and with no character--what I actually mean to say is my pictures are bland with no character.

Apple blossom

US Rubber Company

Primary School Days

The Urban Cyclist

shot using my oldie but goodie Nikon D7000 and my Nikkor AFS 18-70.  The lens is good enough but I always want a more professional looking one.  Just so I think I look better.  I panned to the right in his direction a bit.  This is from a BASIC jpg, USM, and a crop in Instagram without any filter.

Tomb sweeping festival camping

Thirty years ago.

Happy tomb sweeping festival

Thirty years ago.

Spring time weather finally

For some reason I don't like calling t-shirts tees.

Dual Time

Scrambled Egg

The thing with cooking is unless you are a total idiot you can't be too wrong.  At least not all the time.

Occam's Razor

He cannot log in to the system ...

a) He is new, just started yesterday

b) He got too many login's and passwords

c) The instruction is not clear though correct

d) He is an idiot

The correct answer is d

Social Media

Facebook bullshit I don't do (but feel free to do it yourself) ...

Some bullshit human tragedies with some bullshit disturbing pictures ... please Like and Share.

Some bullshit mosaic pictures asking people to Like and press some bullshit number to see some more bullshit stuff.

Fairway Gelato

http://instagr.am/p/W7yb9RiV_T/

I like ice cream better.

At Fairway

http://instagr.am/p/W70N0vCVyo/supermarkets used to carry everyday staples with reasonable and affordable prices.  Now they are organic this and that and food prices just gone off the roof.

Hand wash

It takes forever to finish a load using the dishwasher. Sometimes I just rather do it the old fashioned way--have my wife washed it. Or me rather actually.

I'd Rather Be High

Holy cow deluxe edition or version!

Domestification

Got my discount cards and coupons.