自由題

An open topic is simultaneously a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because one has the absolute freedom to write whatever topic one chooses.  A curse as one has to come up with a topic all by oneself.  When you are assigned a topic, if you don't do a good job you can blame somebody else.  If you choose your own topic and it turns out not as good as you want it to be, you have nobody but yourself to blame.  If I ever live in a totalitarian society where my life is defined, planned and arranged from cradle to grave and I can easily blame the society for my failures.  But does it even matter?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being was one of the first movies and books I saw and read when I arrived in the US.  (The very first movie I saw here was "The Terrorizers" directed by Edward Yang and starring Cora Miao.)   The themes like light and heavy, sex and love, fate and freewill, eternal return and YOLO are well explored.  I wish I could live a life that is light, no need being a brain surgeon or a womanizer or both, like the character Tomas; and definitely not the war nor the hardships that follow.  Tomas started out light but in the end totally domesticated.  He was weighed down by the war and Tereza who clung to him like a piece of Cling wrap.  I don't know if that's just life or what.

Sweden was pretty much defined by ABBA until the world or I discovered Stieg Larsson.  Or John Ajvide Lindqvist who penned "Let the Right One In" in 2004 and later wrote the film adaption in 2008.  The story is at once bleak and beautiful both in words and in moving images.  Instead of wholesome ABBA like characters, many characters are flawed and despicable.  One of the two protagonists, Eli is cursed with eternal return for she is forever stuck in her twelve-year old self since two centuries ago.  Often time she smellS rancid.  The other one is Oskar, a boy who is incontinent and uses a "pissball" to soak up his pee so nobody knows he pisses his pants.  Oskar is the perennial easy target for bullying.  Together they become fast friends and more.  It's hard to like them but even harder not to like them despite them being serial killers.  As it turns out I am not a big fan of ABBA.

Anamorphic Lens Adapter for Mobile Phones

Moondog Labs

Beastgrip Pro

Moment

Moondog is the only company that has stock available all or most of the time, selling at $175.  It seems like it's iPhones only.  Many models are iPhone model specific except one that is phone agnostic as its interface is the 37mm screw thread.

Beastgrip Pro is more like on and off when it comes to availability, more like off most of the time; also asking for $175.  It's based on the 37mm screw thread so it's phone agnostic but pretty mount specific.

Moment is on pre-order.  The listed price is lower than $175 but the lens mount is baked to only mate with its own proprietary case.  If you've already invested in Moment or you think this closed system approach is not a problem then by all means.

In terms of alignment between the phone's lens and the anamorphic adapter, I believe the Moondog iPhone specific model and the Moment would probably give the most convenient, accurate and consistent alignment.  How difficult to align the lenses?  Not too difficult but you still need to do it if it's just a 37mm interface.

Red Hook Crit Brooklyn 11

I felt somewhat disoriented as there was some change to the course.  I felt like I was always on the wrong side of the fence.  I felt like I was always trapped at the wrong spot.  There wasn't a lot of mobility from one to another spot.

I didn't take any pictures of the qualifying heats.  I was busy taking portraits inside the terminal.  I guess it wasn't such a bad idea as I don't want to lug around my equipment under the sun.  I was being lazy for sure.

I still used what I have been using all these years.  I was tempted to rent or even buy a new D750 as my oldie D700 is getting long in its teeth.  AI coupling ring got sticky and becomes problematic if I ever used a manual focus lens or even AF lenses other than the f/2.8 as the ring got sticky and won't automatically rotate according to the notch.  In any event I basically stuck with my good old friends of lenses the 70-200 and the 16-35 and yeah the new addition 135 f/2 DC which definitely is not the kind of lens that provides convenience.

I shot the "portraits" with my Sunpak 120J at I think 1/4 power and at f/8.  I was thinking of shooting at f/11 but somehow it didn't quite work out.  I know it doesn't make sense.  But when I am in the field.  I just need to roll with it I don't have all day to adjust.  I don't think the 16-35 is the "ideal" focal length.  But is there ever an ideal focal length?  I doubt it.  I imagine the 24-70 would provide the greatest convenience for this kind of shot.  The grass is always greener somewhere.  Or the poor man's version could be simply the 50mm f/1.8 or the 35-70 f/2.8.  My ideal shot is just below shoulder, above the knees or full body length with the bike.  The 16-35 helps in full length but I would need to get really close for above knee shots and below shoulder is not even possible or the image would get distorted too much to my liking.  But I shoot what I have and adjust accordingly or rent.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157479883240200.1073742101.787280199&type=1&l=772ef4a303

Life Choices

When you aren't going to buy another big @ss item, you buy some cheapo accessories.  Just so you buy something.  That's the thing with photography, you can enjoy it just buying small items, like lens hoods, filters, sync cables, color gels.  You don't need to buy a $6000 lens or a %6000 camera.  Of course you can enjoy it by actually taking pictures.  Better still print it out on paper and even better, frame it and hang it up somewhere on the wall.

DVD, Handbrake, OS X, Rip

Do people watch DVD nowadays?  I know I do.  And if you check out the library there are still plenty out there on the shelf.

Do people rip DVD nowadays?  I know I do.

I haven't used Handbrake for a long time.  And finally I got it updated and not even updated I even installed the nightly build.  I feel like I am so advanced even I don't know half of what I am doing.  I wasn't going to install the nightly build, it's just the prod has a known bug that doesn't allow preview which is something I like.

I am not a fan of ripping DVD except for scholarly reason like why not.

Handbrake didn't complain so I thought I was able to rip DVD just fine, except the result came out severely pixelated and the sound was all wrong.  I have VLC installed.  So I thought, maybe I have the setting wrong as reading the Google search results indicate once you have VLC installed you should be fine.  Also, I thought the decryption thing is a binary thing like if you can't decrypt then you simply can't not with bad rip or pixelated rip, or so I thought.  I played with the settings a bit and still lousy results.  So that shook my belief that the DVD was decrypted when ripped.  I viewed the log and it did say can't decrypt DVD.

Another trip to Google.

https://www.howtogeek.com/102886/how-to-decrypt-dvds-with-hardbrake-so-you-can-rip-them/

I have Homebrew installed long time ago so getting a package isn't a big deal.

at the Terminal

brew install libdvdcss

this installed the libdvdcss

Now Handbrake can rip the DVD to your or my heart's desire.

Now another reason to buy more storage or even a NAS because of DVDs.

Life Choices

All I care about is what camera or lenses to get.

Life Choices ...

In the world of iPhone cinematography, the anamorphic lens is kind of the king.

The Moondog lab made them first, and it's the only company that have them in stock.  Beastgrip Pro started their version some time last year and they were quickly sold out and now out of stock.  Moment just joined the party and is in Kickstarter mode.  The former two price their anamorphic adapter at $175, which is kind of a steep price for a lens adapter but at the same time dirt cheap as far as anamorphic is concerned.  So it really depends on one's perspective on things.  Moment, the new kid to the mobile phone anamorphic is geared to stir things up by lowering the price, their first batch kickstarter was priced at $99 but no longer available.  I don't fully understand all those funky pricing anyway.  But the ball park is they are priced lower than the competition.  Over time hopefully all of them would come down in price.

Life Choices ...

D5, D4s, D3s . . .

If price is not a concern, then D5.  But of course everything is driven by price.

When people ask me "What camera should I buy?"  I don't know your economic profile or more importantly your psychologic profile.  I know what I want but I can never suggest what you should get.  My decision is based largely on irrational thinking.  So don't listen to me if your decision is based on fact and logic.  My own camera and lens buying decision is utterly irrational.  It doesn't matter I am usually armed with facts my decision is still largely driven by irrational thinking and passion.

Life Choices

Life is about making hard choices.
105mm f/2 DC, 135mm f/2 DC, or 85mm f/1.4 . . . .

I Hope Summer Never Comes

I got the fascination with summer but I am not a fan.

Mirrorless

I read mirrorless is all the rage and is the future.

If I live long enough, I probably will belong to that future.  But that future is probably not soon enough as Nikon hasn't come up with its own mirrorless yet.

I am a man that constantly look for distractions.  SLR has decades of bodies, lenses and myriads of accessories to meet and exceed my needs or wants.  Mirrorless, I don't know but I really don't think so.  Most old Nikkor lenses from eons ago can still mount on the newest bodies without much of a compromise; a manual focus lens sure can be mounted on the flagship D5.  Nikon as far as I am concerned is still actively developing its SLR line both cameras and lenses.  The last professional film SLR model was the F6 which actually seemed a step back from its predecessor F5 as the F6 lacks an integrated vertical grip.  Perhaps Nikon saw the digital evolution coming when F6 was in development.  We have the D5 and perhaps the D5s is in the offing.  Would history repeat itself?  Would there be a D6 that mark the end of the professional digital SLR?  Nikon may roll out the mirrorless in parallel with the SLR.  But probably would only call it a M1 if it's deemed of professional caliber.  Canon and Nikon, the bellwethers of the SLR world, stand to lose the most one way or the other if mirrorless turns out really to be the future or a big trunk of the future.  Meanwhile, SONY is really steamrolling in that mirrorless space with models coming out like every few months.

Red Sparrow (2018)

Red Sparrow is the latest female fronted Hollywood thriller with Lawrence playing the title character, a red sparrow or a spy trained and owned by the state, whose trade craft includes the time honored carnal art of seduction.  I have high expectations.

The movie begins with great promise: rapid intercuts between Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) dancing on stage having her femur broken and her counterpart, Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) evading a car chase on foot.  Dominika is a natural and her uncle Vanya Ergovo (Matthia Schonaerts) sees it.  All he does is to nudge her a bit and makes her woke of her hidden talents.  He tips her off her injury is not a result of occupation hazard.  While still on the mend and limping, Dominika takes out the adulterous couple who ended her ballet career with no holds barred rage and violence.  Perhaps her career ending injury is a blessing in disguise,  Jennifer Lawrence or Dominika Egorova is just too well endowed to look like a ballerina.  The first job and then the formal training follow.  Dominika is sent to a "whore school" run by the hooded eyes Matron (Charlotte Rampling) who is cadaverous in appearance and pithy in teaching.  The cadets wear drab wrap skirts, seemingly stolen from Diane von Furstenberg, that are easy to put on and more importantly easier to take off.  Like a good student she excels.   She gets her first overseas gig before she officially finishes her training thanks to General Korchnoi (Jeremy Irons) who is just cadaverous but likes to enjoy putting on more rouge to look more flushed than Matron, which of course only makes him look ridiculous, even more so than his Russian accented English--in the world of Red Sparrow, English is the lingua franca.  Dominika is sent to Budapest to lure her American counterpart so as to root out the mole deep within the Russian intelligence . . . and so she begins her journey as a full fledged red sparrow.

After hiring Lawrence, quite possibly the highest paid female star, the movie just runs out of budget.  So there are hardly any actions, stunts or special effects to speak of.  In one truly potentially R-rated deserving scene where human skin is shaved off, the camera is no where near where the action is and the audience is spared with that gruesome awesomeness because there is no budget for special effects.  The trailer is pretty much all there is, but with far better pacing than the actual movie which at times feels interminable and meandering; it clocks in two hours nineteen minutes.  This red sparrow has great potentials but does not fly high or far.

UNTITLED

News was delivered by butchers and fish mongers in the wet market a day's late but with meat inside.  It was a halcyon time when people recycled without recycling.  The flank steak or red snapper was wrapped in old newspaper tied with a strand of salt water grass.  That's how I discovered news.  Sometimes the section was salacious and often times the section was just news.  Either case I wasn't complaining, not to someone who wielded some cleaver for a living.

"Can I get that section?  Yeah that, yeah that section.   No. That one!"  I don't think so.

UNTITLED

How I read the news stays the same--I still use my eyes and corrective lenses, which, over the years, have evolved excitingly with the much anticipated presbyopia and floaters thrown in rather than just the usual ailments like myopia and astigmatism.

In terms of sources, it's the fake news extraordinaire The New York Times alright.  I have autopay setup so they can just take my money and leave me alone.  I pay and I shall receive, it's always the kind of ideal transactional relationship I aim for.  Most other news especially those trending or shared on FB are genuinely fake news and I take them with a grain of salt and regard them as mostly entertainment, loosely speaking.  For Hong Kong news I just go to Ming Pao, which has changed some what.  One thing I find quite interesting or mildly disturbing is they still put entertainment or show biz news under the section called OL section.  Does it stand for office lady?  I feel marginalized.

News deliverance and consumption have changed a great deal.  What used to be daily dead tree publication has changed to round-the-clock breaking news via the screen--this is how people got hyper tension and heart attack.  A suited man reading and doing origami folds with the Times on his morning commute is a rare sight nowadays.  That suited man's position probably got off-shored to India or Poland.  I still have some of my paper delivered but empirically I don't even think the paper is touched let alone being read, it got picked up, idled and then chucked to recycles.  Sad.  Most news are consumed via a myriad of screens.

The only paper that can't be digitized is the toilet paper.  Long live the toilet paper.

Untitled.

"I'd rather be where I am than in a grave."

Beastgrip Anamorphic

I can't find any review comparing the Beastgrip anamorphic and the OG moondog lab anamorphic.  Both are selling $175.  But if you were to buy the moondog then you need an adaptor for the Beastgrip.  I don't fully understand why but that's what moondog says.  I am surprised I can't find anything comparing the two.  I am easily surprised.  Most if not all reviews on the Beastgrip anamorphic are pretty much from the company, I don't even think there is a third party review on this.  I imagine the clip-on version of the moondog should have the best alighment as it's clip on, there is no misalignment to fiddle about the vertical and horizontal.  But then since the clip on is pretty much phone specific, so about every two years you are faced with the planned obsolesce, you upgrade the phone you most likely need to update the anamorphic adaptor as well.  Most people aren't made of money.  The screw-on adaptor makes a bit more sense if you are good at aligning the adaptor to the phone's lens.  I am speaking like a true desktop phone videographer as I have absolutely zero experience using the anamorphic adaptor.

記一件發生於2017年的開心事

12/15/2017

Dear Diary,

Just checked my bank account.  My paycheck is there.  Right on time, like clockwork.  I don't know all these freaking deductions and whatnots mean.  But whatever.  Last year I was like I forgot to submit something something like withholding not enough city tax or whatever, I ended up paying penalty, WTF!

12/16/2017

Diary

!!@#$@#$ Verizon FIOS, the set top box kept rebooting itself.  I need to watch my MTV.  Or CNN, I enjoy the anchors' incredulous stuttering when conveying indignations.  Called Verizon, dude sent me a new box via next day FedEx.  Can't fault the dude.  Installed the new box.  Looked like it's working fine.  Then next day, same shit happened again.   Decided to wait to try again in the evening.  Holy moly it worked.  I could never figure out how Verizon works I bet they don't either.  Just send the dude a new box!  I like that approach.

The end is near.   What have I done?  What have I not done?  The perennial question that never yields a satisfactory answer.  I am not getting any younger.  I am running out of battery.

12/30/2017

X:  Sir, can you confirm your phone number?
Y:  Can I ask you something?  Will people actually call me?  I've always put down my number but nobody ever called me?  Will you really call me?
X: Sir, is this the number we can reach you?
Y: Yes.

12/31/2017

Paycheck in the bank!  Yes!
Hello?
This is Dr. Bernstein's office ...
Thank you.

He carefully crossed his legs so his right thigh was resting on his left thigh.  He thought this was a good year.  The doctor called.  Or the doctor's office called.  He placed his hand over his heart, contemplating the new year that was to come in a few hours.



 

我家最舒服的一角

The present is unsavory, the future is unfathomable and most people aren't Karl Lagerfeld.  We can all use some magical nostalgia where terror, real or imaginary, was in a distant past and exists in the confine of the screen and we are safe in the comfort of our own place having a good scare without all the nasty consequences.

A Legacy of Spies is the latest addition to John Le Carré oeuvre.  The term legacy takes on a negative connotation just like the word classic, iPod Classic, legacy software, anyone?  It becomes an euphemism for anything that is dated, past its prime but for some pathetic reason still hanging around.  The protagonist Peter Guillam is one of those legacies.  The past has come back to haunt him, his mentor George Smiley and the Circuit as a whole: they face legal challenges from the offspring of the deceased whose deaths were a direct or indirect consequence of his botched operation.  Legacy revisits that past with immaculate details, mainly in the form of memos and letters, and low key suave just like Smiley.  Legacy can be seen as part of a series as the characters appear in Le Carré previous works.  With Legacy, Le Carré may really retire Smiley as his spook exemplary for good.  It's a loss but all good things must end.

I am always suspect of movies or shows that make children as their main characters.  I think it's just an easy way to gain sympathy and is borderline exploitative.  Spielberg's E.T.:  the Extra Terrestrial is the pinnacle of this kind of success or exploitation.  There is no doubt in my mind, Netflix's Stranger Things is in the same vein as E.T.   You have a suburban setting in yesteryear with a bunch of adorable kids running around riding bikes.  The similarity is uncanny and is as much as a homage as it's formulaic.  That being said I like the series.  Above anything else, it's about unconditional and unwavering friendship we yearn for but almost forgot.  What's not to like?  And of course Eggo too.  The show has catapulted some young actors into early stardom: the star Millie Bobby Brown graces the cover of Interview magazine, and resuscitated the fading career of Winona Ryder whom I think is just being herself in the show.  With great success comes more seasons and episodes and the danger of overstaying its welcome with sub par material.  Super natural sci-fi sometimes is just a polite way of saying male bovine excrement.

Mindhunter is one long movie in episodes.  Since The Silence of the Lambs, serial killers have gone mainstream and it's a dime a dozen.  What sets Mindhunter apart and above is the stunning visual and the nuanced multilayered audio.  The opening sequence really set things up and foretells what it is to come visually and aurally.  Mindhunter is the story of the nascent Behavioral Science Department of the FBI in the 70s.  The production is charming and the dialogue is smart.  Wendy Carr, the psychology professor played by Anna Torv has such an inflection that I imagine is what East Coast intelligentsia sounds like.  One thing I don't quite understand is why agent Holden Ford wears a double vented suit jacket.  I think it's too showy and European a sartorial choice for an FBI agent unless Ford is someone who likes to play against type, which I don't think is the intent of the show.

Back in the 70s and early 80s there was no pervasive computing but pervasive smoking.  Both shows are like fifty minute cigarette commercials without the actual commercials.  I certainly prefer any Russian intrigue limited to a page in the novel and sociopaths in the big house than in the White House.  The reality is just too much to bear.  Ignorance is bliss and then you die.

Coffee or tea

"Coffee or tea?"

I put the cup on the tray and the air attendant poured the tea into the cup.  Not a drop was spilled.

I dunked the cookies into the tea to soften their blow to my rotten teeth.  It was a madeleine moment.  It was tea from a thermal flask, very proletariat, very matter of fact, just like breathing.  You finished your dinner you poured yourself a glassful of tea whose name remained unknown whose quality unquestioned.  It was just tea brewed in a thermal flask.  It wasn't until much later that I found out there were different names to different teas.  During an overnight camping trip, two of my friends were sophisticated and urbane beyond my imagination.  They brewed tea at night.  Not just any nameless tea in a dreary thermal flask but tea that has a name, an English name no less.  The Lipton tea, in its gauze little bags of glory, ever so sophisticated, together with milk and sugar, soothingly and warmly transitioned me from a child to a bona fide young adult that night.

"Coffee or tea?"

I put the cup on the tray and he deftly poured coffee into the cup.  He was a professional.  I skipped the granular sugar and just added the single serving milk to complete the beverage.  Sugar is like poison in today's ever quest for healthier diet.  A coffee is a coffee is a coffee so long as it's hot but not scorching hot.  The baby behind me started to cry again.  It didn't bother me, not more so than air travel or people who seemed very bothered by baby crying.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Thank you."

At my age, I only come home for either a good reason or a bad reason.

PhotoPlus Expo 2017

I can't remember when I started to go to Photo expo.  There used to be a PC Expo but it's long gone.  When I do something long enough it takes on some extra meaning.  Look at the pictures I took years ago, I could really see the changes over time, not just the industry but myself.  Kodak used to give out free film and then they stopped and then they didn't even bother to show up because they bankrupted or something.  Fuji used to give away film as well.  But they don't bother anymore.  Now they shift their products more on cameras and lenses at least at the expo.  Nikon, Canon and now Sony are the big three in the expo.  Sony is like making some big move in the expo, the space got bigger or at least as big as Canon and Nikon.