Based on New Yorker's David Denby's largely positive review, I went to see "Hancock." I went in with high expectation, and but only to leave the theater disappointed. I think it's really nobody's fault. I believe I have lost the capacity to thoroughly enjoy action movies. That must be it. I think it's still better than say "I am Legend."
Then we have this record shattering movie phenomenon called "Batman: The Dark Knight." I first saw Christian Bale when he was a playing an English school boy in Empire of The Sun in 1987. Of course he is all grown up and is now Batman par excellence instead of some hapless shorts wearing school boy. Again, I failed to appreciate another seemingly good, make it excellent, action cum drama flick. I went to a pretty good movie house, and I was impressed with both the audio and video of the theater. I can see the pores of the actors. And I even noticed the eyebag under Bale's right eye and right eye only so that's kind of odd ... and his mole between his nose and right eye. I know it's pathetic but that's what I noticed and paid attention to whenever Bale is not growling behind his Batman mask. Before the movie, there was this trailer with some big names like Brad Pitt and George Freaking Clooney. For some reason, Pitt just looks so uncool and pedestrian and even old. I don't know if it's the super clear projector of the movie house or what but it's far removed from the Pitt that appeared in Fight Club, the guy with zero percentage body fat and a nonchalance attitude. Fans of Edison Chen rejoice, the accidental porn star of the year has a cameo that lasts about five seconds. He has one line but the camera wasn't focusing on him so he is kind of blurry and on the side of the screen, but that's enough to make his fans' heart flutter, I think. For more Edison Chen with Nikon D70 6 mega pixel clarity, you have to go to www... never mind, the kid is a reformed Christian or so I heard. Heath Ledger's Joker is a menacing psychopath, and Ledger is in face paint throughout the entire movie so you can't really see him. All you see is really the Joker and his tongue, slithering like a snake. The wardrobe is kind of OKAY, there is this leather jacket in the beginning of the movie as worn by one of the bank robbers that I like. But other than that, I am not all that impressed with the wardrobe. Especially not Bale's hair, all right it's not wardrobe and I am not implying Bale wears a hair piece. The hair just looks very tired and dated. I can only imagine maybe that's what Bruce Wayne is supposed to look like hairstyle wise, I can't be sure as I am no comic book fanboy myself. The Dark Knight is one long loud movie, prepared to be bombarded and excited or exhausted.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Apple
Apple is having its rotten moment at the NASDAQ.... Look like the stock doesn't enthrall investors as much as its iPhone 3G does to the Apple fanboys. Apple is said to be able to sell refrigerators to the Eskimos. Wall Street is not impressed by its going forward numbers and is spooked by the seemingly eroding health of its CEO, Jobs. Apple has no heir apparent. The stock is currently trading around $153 down more than $13 from yesterday's close.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Random Thoughts
I don't use hair conditioner, I guess that makes me more of a wild child than say Patti Smith.
Stay At Home Vacation
I am having my staycation. So here was what I prepared for lunch .... Read from bottom to top.
Romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, cherry tomatoes, peach, basil from my backyard ... mixed with the vinaigrette shown below.
I made my own dressing for the salad. It's just extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, a touch of balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and some lime juice, mixed them well and chilled.
After letting the meat rest for about 3 minutes or so, it's time to cut them up. I used a serrated bread knife. Oh well, I just used whatever handy.
A couple of pork loins as seen from the top. I slow cooked them by direct fire (not so much), by convection, and by smoking. Anyway, I cooked them with the cover on and vent opened.
Threw them into one of those Weber Smoky Joe. I have the small one, good for camping. Cooked them over some Kingsford charcoal. I added a hickory wood chip for flavoring. I soaked the chip for some time. I decided not to use my big-ass gas grill, as I didn't have a lot to BBQ, plus it's fun to use charcoal. To start the fire, I used one of those chimneys, just pour charcoal into the cylinder thing, then stuff newspaper underneath, like the good for nothing New York Times, and you are good to go. No need to add the burning fluid. The natural draft created by the cylindrical chimney would burn the charcoal to red hot. Once the charcoal briquettes were red hot, I poured them onto the grill. Made sure the bottom vent was open and so were the ones on the cover.
A couple of pork loins. I just threw whatever I have. Sage, ginger, thyme, rosemary, some red wine, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Marinate them in a plastic bag overnight.
Romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, cherry tomatoes, peach, basil from my backyard ... mixed with the vinaigrette shown below.
I made my own dressing for the salad. It's just extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, a touch of balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and some lime juice, mixed them well and chilled.
After letting the meat rest for about 3 minutes or so, it's time to cut them up. I used a serrated bread knife. Oh well, I just used whatever handy.
A couple of pork loins as seen from the top. I slow cooked them by direct fire (not so much), by convection, and by smoking. Anyway, I cooked them with the cover on and vent opened.
Threw them into one of those Weber Smoky Joe. I have the small one, good for camping. Cooked them over some Kingsford charcoal. I added a hickory wood chip for flavoring. I soaked the chip for some time. I decided not to use my big-ass gas grill, as I didn't have a lot to BBQ, plus it's fun to use charcoal. To start the fire, I used one of those chimneys, just pour charcoal into the cylinder thing, then stuff newspaper underneath, like the good for nothing New York Times, and you are good to go. No need to add the burning fluid. The natural draft created by the cylindrical chimney would burn the charcoal to red hot. Once the charcoal briquettes were red hot, I poured them onto the grill. Made sure the bottom vent was open and so were the ones on the cover.
A couple of pork loins. I just threw whatever I have. Sage, ginger, thyme, rosemary, some red wine, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Marinate them in a plastic bag overnight.
What's Happening in the backyard
The eggplant.
The eggplant flower.
Cherry tomatoes. One of them secretly turning orange.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sunken Meadow State Park
I don't know if I ever want to use the light meter again. I got another roll of my 120 back and I just like the exposures, every single one of them. Maybe it's because of the printer? I don't know. Even shooting at the sun, there is no color fringing, no noise on the black shirt. Whoo hoo.
Project Runway
Project Runway is on its 200th season and Heidi Klum as her usual self looks gorgeous and makes everybody looks like crap. Her bitch Tim Gunn is again at his very best being the bitchy mentor who always reminds people to make it work. I like him being Klum's bitch, his own show with Veronica Webb is unwatchable. I wonder if he still has that show.
So this 200th season has again the usual suspects. Basically a bunch of professionals cum drama queens who have earned their chops to gain a spot on the show.
On this premiere episode, the contestants were to make some garments out of merchanize from a grocery store. The obvious choice for the imagination-challenged contestants was of course table cloths. The winner was a top and a skirt outfit made out of coffee filters and vacuum bags, with burnt marks over material to give the outfit another level of uniqueness if you will; the outfit was well put together. Personally I like the sheath that's made out of blue plastic cups. The guy ironed the cups into submission and made a dress out of it, and I am frankly impressed by the choice of material and craftmanship, it's just that I don't think the model can ever sit down on it. A better choice would be the bustier top stays put but chooses another material for the bottom half of the dress, that's from me somebody who doesn't know dickson about fashion or sewing. Anyway, everybody is an expert when it comes to blogging.
Then we have the bottom two. There we had this 42-year old whose design MO is rock and roll and a bit gothic. So her obvious choice was black plastic garbage bags. But from the moment she opened the package she was seen bitching incessantly about the material. And from there on I didn't see her doing anything to the material except complaining. And in the end, she pretty much draped the garbage bag over her model with stitching here and there so the "dress" if you can call it that, wouldn't fall apart. But it's obviously garbage bags, there was no transformation of the material what so ever. The other bottom candidate was an Asian dude. He, in the beginning, had all the ideas and proclaimed that he was going to make something better from better stuff, unlike others. And of course, towards the end, he was sweating and just scrambling to finish. Oh well when your aspiration is bigger than your talent, that's what happened. In the end, he made a white rain coat out of shower curtains, with additional top and skirt. The judges hated the outfit because it looked weird, in a bad way, and looked much like something you would wear in the hospital or worse in an asylum. Personally I think if anything, it does remind me of works from some crazy or genius Japanese French designers. And I mean it as a compliment. So the judges decided that the Asian dude was the "out" guy in the "one day you are in and the next day you are out" guy. Actually he was never in, he was just out the first day, poor guy. I think it was a travesty of justice. The garbage bag lady should be the one got ousted. The dress was just a lazy put together with absolutely no effort on craftmanship and imagination. The dude, at least made an effort to transform the material and made a total outfit. And it turned out not as bad as the judges made it to be. Alas, it's television, there is no justice only ratings.
So this 200th season has again the usual suspects. Basically a bunch of professionals cum drama queens who have earned their chops to gain a spot on the show.
On this premiere episode, the contestants were to make some garments out of merchanize from a grocery store. The obvious choice for the imagination-challenged contestants was of course table cloths. The winner was a top and a skirt outfit made out of coffee filters and vacuum bags, with burnt marks over material to give the outfit another level of uniqueness if you will; the outfit was well put together. Personally I like the sheath that's made out of blue plastic cups. The guy ironed the cups into submission and made a dress out of it, and I am frankly impressed by the choice of material and craftmanship, it's just that I don't think the model can ever sit down on it. A better choice would be the bustier top stays put but chooses another material for the bottom half of the dress, that's from me somebody who doesn't know dickson about fashion or sewing. Anyway, everybody is an expert when it comes to blogging.
Then we have the bottom two. There we had this 42-year old whose design MO is rock and roll and a bit gothic. So her obvious choice was black plastic garbage bags. But from the moment she opened the package she was seen bitching incessantly about the material. And from there on I didn't see her doing anything to the material except complaining. And in the end, she pretty much draped the garbage bag over her model with stitching here and there so the "dress" if you can call it that, wouldn't fall apart. But it's obviously garbage bags, there was no transformation of the material what so ever. The other bottom candidate was an Asian dude. He, in the beginning, had all the ideas and proclaimed that he was going to make something better from better stuff, unlike others. And of course, towards the end, he was sweating and just scrambling to finish. Oh well when your aspiration is bigger than your talent, that's what happened. In the end, he made a white rain coat out of shower curtains, with additional top and skirt. The judges hated the outfit because it looked weird, in a bad way, and looked much like something you would wear in the hospital or worse in an asylum. Personally I think if anything, it does remind me of works from some crazy or genius Japanese French designers. And I mean it as a compliment. So the judges decided that the Asian dude was the "out" guy in the "one day you are in and the next day you are out" guy. Actually he was never in, he was just out the first day, poor guy. I think it was a travesty of justice. The garbage bag lady should be the one got ousted. The dress was just a lazy put together with absolutely no effort on craftmanship and imagination. The dude, at least made an effort to transform the material and made a total outfit. And it turned out not as bad as the judges made it to be. Alas, it's television, there is no justice only ratings.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Olympics
I am getting my Olympics fever, slowly, with the help of the press and the calendar moving closer to the month of August.
The NYTimes.com has an interesting piece on how China saved the 1984 Olympics. I found the story heartwarming; sometimes I am such a wimpy girly man, sort of. The now defunct Soviet Union called for a boycott of the 1984 LA Olympics in retaliation to US boycott four years earlier. And China was high on the list of about 100 countries, supposedly in support of the boycott. Charles Lee, a federal prosecutor was sent to persuade the Chinese to participate in the Games, the first time ever for China. In the end, after several meetings with the sports ministers, China agreed to come and only 14 countries boycotted the Games. During the Olympics some of Chinese gymnasts requested to meet some American children, and Lee obliged by letting the young athletes meet his daughters then four and two years old. The Games turned out to be a financial and political success. Twenty four years later, China gets to host the summer Olympics.
Charles Lee, not an ethic Chinese, speaks fluent Mandarin and is married to a Chinese-born American, Miranda, who grew up in Hong Kong.
The original article is here. Please check out the pictures. Lee can be seen wearing a pair of Shuron Freeway Crystal, or something very very similar.
The NYTimes.com has an interesting piece on how China saved the 1984 Olympics. I found the story heartwarming; sometimes I am such a wimpy girly man, sort of. The now defunct Soviet Union called for a boycott of the 1984 LA Olympics in retaliation to US boycott four years earlier. And China was high on the list of about 100 countries, supposedly in support of the boycott. Charles Lee, a federal prosecutor was sent to persuade the Chinese to participate in the Games, the first time ever for China. In the end, after several meetings with the sports ministers, China agreed to come and only 14 countries boycotted the Games. During the Olympics some of Chinese gymnasts requested to meet some American children, and Lee obliged by letting the young athletes meet his daughters then four and two years old. The Games turned out to be a financial and political success. Twenty four years later, China gets to host the summer Olympics.
Charles Lee, not an ethic Chinese, speaks fluent Mandarin and is married to a Chinese-born American, Miranda, who grew up in Hong Kong.
The original article is here. Please check out the pictures. Lee can be seen wearing a pair of Shuron Freeway Crystal, or something very very similar.
The Politics Of Fear
The New Yorker decided to make some noise in the slow month of July. I got to see if I can find a free copy somewhere lying around. Or else I have to get one from the newsstand. Now all the pundits have something to talk about, and lame bloggers like myself have something to say. Actually I really don't. I think this is satire right? Right.The cover jpeg is from the official website.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Weekend Fodder In Pictures
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The obligatory shadow shot, a must for first year photography student
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LIRR, where the street bums go to eat. No. It's just me. I brought my take away Chinese rice-roll and iced coffee and ate there at the station. I didn't see any bums there, except myself and the real LIRR customers waiting for their train..jpg)
Iced coffee, $1.50. All sorts of Chinese dim sums to eat in or take away..jpg)
Made to order Chinese rice-roll. My order in the box already, rice-roll with dried shrimps and scallion. $1.50, with hot sauce .....jpg)
at&t on Main Street Flushing. People are lining up to get their iPhone 3G, wo hoo....NOTE: All these fine art quality pictures were taken using a camera phone. They are just mesmerizing, I say especially the second one from the top.
Weekend Fodder
McCain is not a natural born American. Holy cow, he shouldn't, couldn't run for the highest office on Earth. Obama wins the race by default, woo hoo. (my hyperlink is pretty random, and don't make a lot of sense. Woo hoo)
Fannie and Freddie, the star-crossed partners in crime messed up the stock market. Every day there is some reason why the stock market should go down more or why the oil price should go up to $200 a barrel. Oh shoot, McCain's people are going to call you a whiner....
The iPhone 3G is out, but the stock price is still stuck in low gear and actually down a few dollars, like every other day. With all the losers waiting in line handing money to Apple, the stock is still heading south, what gives? If you are pissed off with the stock performance, with some luck, you can get the pee version of iPhone 3G. I need to find one myself, just to complement my pissy mood.
Fannie and Freddie, the star-crossed partners in crime messed up the stock market. Every day there is some reason why the stock market should go down more or why the oil price should go up to $200 a barrel. Oh shoot, McCain's people are going to call you a whiner....
The iPhone 3G is out, but the stock price is still stuck in low gear and actually down a few dollars, like every other day. With all the losers waiting in line handing money to Apple, the stock is still heading south, what gives? If you are pissed off with the stock performance, with some luck, you can get the pee version of iPhone 3G. I need to find one myself, just to complement my pissy mood.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Yashica Mat-124 G
I am totally happy with my own Cartier-Bresson guestimate exposure. I am not happy at all with the color and the scan. The scan can't be right at least can't be called HI-RES. The color isn't right either (or maybe it's right, I know Portra is supposed to be low contrast ....) but I guess I would never find out whose fault it is anyway, as it can be due to the fact that the film is expired though unlikely. I guess it's time to shoot chrome or just process my own black and white or go digital all the way. That way at least you don't have anybody to blame but yourself.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Some Black & White From The Late 80s
My best pictures were taken probably in the late 80s, that is, of course relatively speaking. Since then, everything has gone downhill.
I think I was shooting like Gary Winogrand, except for the third one from the top which was more like Robert Capa. So my personal style was really a cross between Winogrand and Capa. If you are still reading this I certainly hope you haven't puked yet. Truth be told, my pictures are really a reflection of my artistic impoverishment.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
NJ Marriot
I am rocking in NJ now. Let the good time roll.
UPDATE:
Of course, I am exaggerating. There is no "rocking" in New Jersey. If you read my blog long enough, you should know you can't really believe what I write. I am a typical pathological liar.
Yashica Mat 124 G, user report
This is based on my experience with the camera for the past few days. I finished three rolls of Kodak Portra 160.
Loading film is not that bad at all. Perhaps because I am old enough to know how to load 135mm films, so loading the 120 film is not a problem. Did I screw up, yes and no. The 120 film mark is at the bottom on the camera so I didn't see it and I mistook another marking which is closer to the 240 mark as one. But it didn't seem to affect the film advance at all. I found out when I loaded the third roll. Focusing is difficult. Because it's basically a ground glass and it isn't very bright when lighting condition is not optimum, meaning too much light on a sunny day outside or shooting indoor. The small magnifying focusing lens is pretty helpful in that regard. Another thing is that objects appear reverse and often time, it's just hard to align things properly, I think it should be possible but just much harder coming from the 35mm world. During my sojourn in NJ, many of my shots were taken with a flash attached. And all my exposures were based on estimate. So chances are many of them may come out like crap.
NOTE:
For those who miss my vacation pictures, sorry, there won't be any, at least not soon like right now. For those who don't miss my boring vacation pictures, you are in luck, because I shot in film so chances are you won't see any of them like forever.
UPDATE:
Of course, I am exaggerating. There is no "rocking" in New Jersey. If you read my blog long enough, you should know you can't really believe what I write. I am a typical pathological liar.
Yashica Mat 124 G, user report
This is based on my experience with the camera for the past few days. I finished three rolls of Kodak Portra 160.
Loading film is not that bad at all. Perhaps because I am old enough to know how to load 135mm films, so loading the 120 film is not a problem. Did I screw up, yes and no. The 120 film mark is at the bottom on the camera so I didn't see it and I mistook another marking which is closer to the 240 mark as one. But it didn't seem to affect the film advance at all. I found out when I loaded the third roll. Focusing is difficult. Because it's basically a ground glass and it isn't very bright when lighting condition is not optimum, meaning too much light on a sunny day outside or shooting indoor. The small magnifying focusing lens is pretty helpful in that regard. Another thing is that objects appear reverse and often time, it's just hard to align things properly, I think it should be possible but just much harder coming from the 35mm world. During my sojourn in NJ, many of my shots were taken with a flash attached. And all my exposures were based on estimate. So chances are many of them may come out like crap.
NOTE:
For those who miss my vacation pictures, sorry, there won't be any, at least not soon like right now. For those who don't miss my boring vacation pictures, you are in luck, because I shot in film so chances are you won't see any of them like forever.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Craigslist, Again
I am going to indulge myself with yet another post about Craigslist and my latest medium format camera. I am, after all, a very self indulgent person.
I was thinking about eBay or buying second hand from a reputable camera store like keh.com (of course, it's going to be used as the camera has been out of production since 1986). But I have a strong death instinct so I branched out to seek ways that allow me to live dangerously like meeting online stranger face to face. Craigslist strongly cautions any dealings involve checks, money order, wire transfer, basically, anything other than a face to face cash transaction. But I broke all the rules. I sent a personal check to a seller located in Connecticut, a definite no-no. But I did it anyway with full or blind faith that the seller is just as honest as myself and at the same time fully aware that he could have just kept the money without sending me anything at all. Well it turns out that the seller is a good guy just like me. I got the camera in UPS today and everything is as described, and the package is nicely packed. It's as good as new considering the seller actually bought it on March 25, 1978, more than thirty years ago. He told me he probably ran 15 rolls with it in all these 30 years. I already bought 39 rolls.
After I got the camera, I loaded it with a roll of Kodak NC 160, and started shooting already.... It definitely takes some time to get used to, just like looking at things in the rear mirror, except the left is now right on the focusing screen. But I guess I will manage. The battery for the built-in light meter is missing so I have to guess estimate the f-stop and shutter speed combination, like what Cartier Bresson did with his Leica (note: again I am shamelessly comparing myself with some seriously famous dead photographer).
Again, I am not a real photographer, I talk about it more than I actually do it. That needs to change.
NOTE: A lot of my readers think that I am going back to analog. There is no going "back," I always like analog even I shoot digital most of the time. So if you plan to send me all the digital goodies like D3 or D700 or D300, please still do, I love digital, basically, anything that's meticulously crafted, digital or analog.
I was thinking about eBay or buying second hand from a reputable camera store like keh.com (of course, it's going to be used as the camera has been out of production since 1986). But I have a strong death instinct so I branched out to seek ways that allow me to live dangerously like meeting online stranger face to face. Craigslist strongly cautions any dealings involve checks, money order, wire transfer, basically, anything other than a face to face cash transaction. But I broke all the rules. I sent a personal check to a seller located in Connecticut, a definite no-no. But I did it anyway with full or blind faith that the seller is just as honest as myself and at the same time fully aware that he could have just kept the money without sending me anything at all. Well it turns out that the seller is a good guy just like me. I got the camera in UPS today and everything is as described, and the package is nicely packed. It's as good as new considering the seller actually bought it on March 25, 1978, more than thirty years ago. He told me he probably ran 15 rolls with it in all these 30 years. I already bought 39 rolls.
After I got the camera, I loaded it with a roll of Kodak NC 160, and started shooting already.... It definitely takes some time to get used to, just like looking at things in the rear mirror, except the left is now right on the focusing screen. But I guess I will manage. The battery for the built-in light meter is missing so I have to guess estimate the f-stop and shutter speed combination, like what Cartier Bresson did with his Leica (note: again I am shamelessly comparing myself with some seriously famous dead photographer).
Again, I am not a real photographer, I talk about it more than I actually do it. That needs to change.
NOTE: A lot of my readers think that I am going back to analog. There is no going "back," I always like analog even I shoot digital most of the time. So if you plan to send me all the digital goodies like D3 or D700 or D300, please still do, I love digital, basically, anything that's meticulously crafted, digital or analog.
I Got Sensor Bigger Than Full Frame
While the world is pretty enthralled with Nikon's newly D700, the second full frame digital single lens reflex camera introduced on July 1 by Nikon, I fall in love with the Yashica 124 G twin lens reflex camera. It takes 120 film, and has an image size of 56mm x 56mm, a perfectly square format. Meanwhile, the "full frame" sensor is a mere 24x36mm (or actually for Nikon's FX it's 23.9x36mm) which is equivalent to the 135mm film size as used by 35mm film SLR cameras. I am going to shoot like Diane Arbus (Arbus was really great, she didn't do what I call hit and run photography which most people can do with varying degrees of success, she actually got to know her subjects. I am just flattering myself with no shame).
I don't know if I will ever get the chance to print anything good in the near future. But I am kind of excited. I don't know.
I don't know if I will ever get the chance to print anything good in the near future. But I am kind of excited. I don't know.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Guantanamo Torture Technique Rip-off From China
Today, the New York Times just confirmed what I long suspected. As far as torture techniques go, China is light years ahead of most western civilizations. And all the Guantanamo torture techniques were indeed based on a 1957 US study on Chinese torture techniques done on American POWs during the Korean War back in 1950s. The article says the techniques yielded mostly false confessions. Now that's just ungrateful, after ripping off someone's works, and saying that they are actually good for nothing.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Nikon D700
First it's the Chinese, then the German then the French, the leaks were all over the place. The French got a video, even. It's July 1, all Nikon's guerrilla marketing came to be end. Now back to official marketing. Finally, straight from the horse's mouth, the Nikon D700 is for real. Well the flash SB-900 too, but when you have noiseless high ISO performance, who cares about the flash anyway, except maybe I don't know, Joe McNally. The trusty dpreview gives us a timely hands-on preview on the D700. Of course, nothing is complete without Mr. Rockwell's opinion.
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The picture doesn't do justice to what's going on out there. I shall declare a snow emergency now. Everybody goes home. UPDATE:...
