Alley Pond Park Adventure Course

This was the last part of the adventure, and nobody got killed yet. The beam was about 100 feet above the ground. Everybody was brave enough to climb up and come down. Man that was intense. OKAY, not 100 feet, but what's the difference? The pictures are shown in reverse chronological sequence. (note: Blown highlight everywhere, with lighting condition like this, it's really a test of the photog skill and I failed miserably.)

Alley Pond Park Camping

All pictures shot using a Canon G3, a lowly 4MP camera. Jin was the photog.

Jin and the kids went there first and I joined them later after work. I would never miss camping, I love camping. I took the Queens bound F train all the way to Union Turnpike, then hopped on the Q46, got off at Winchester Blvd. Walked underneath the flyover ... And there it was, Alley Pond Park. I have never been this part of the Park, it was pretty nice. And fire is allowed, see pictures above. We had hamburgers and hot dogs for diner, all courtesy of tax payers' moneys, that is taxpayer as in myself included. Then it was time to setup the tent. It wasn't hard at all. When night came, it was time to roast marshmallow and smores. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the fire, of course. That's almost the whole point of roasting marshmallow. The last activity of the day was a night hike on one of the nature trails. The kids became whiners and moaners after maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Of course it could be a bit spooky in the wood at night. The rangers only showed us some plants and some worms along the trail, unfortunately we didn't see any lion, tiger or elephant. Too bad, the kids were disappointed plus they were totally exhausted after about 45 minutes.

Eggplants Destroyed

While I was out camping for a night, some animal ate the eggplants in the backyard. I am furious.

camping

This is a poor man's vacation. We are sleeping under the summer sky in a tent. I don't know y I always doing this. I am not the outdoor type but somehow I just end up in a tent....it's just weird.

Flushing For The Gastronomic Adventurous

The New York Times, in a ground breaking sort of way, introduces its readers Flushing, Queens as the culinary equivalence of Beijing, except it's right here in the backyard not 4,000 miles away. The feature is chock full of information both in print and in Web multimedia, the way it should be but seldom is. The printable list in pdf, with dish names in original Chinese characters is good especially if you are going to plan your gastronomic expedition. I think I must have tried a few of those eateries it mentioned. One shop I won't forget is Nian Shian Dumpling House. The food was all right, I don't think it was "the best soup dumplings in Flushing" as proclaimed on the list. I just think Joe's Shanghai still has an edge in its crab meat soup dumplings. When it comes to service, one of the women that served us was really bad. She was taking our order sitting on a stool, with the attitude of I couldn't be bothered. When an appetizer was not available she made us seem a bunch of idiots for even ordering that and proceeded to tell us to see the appetizer station ourselves to see what's available and again with an attitude that was reminiscence of some dragon lady. She would not lift a finger if that would make us just a bit more comfortable. Other wait staff from prior visits seemed a bit better. Basically don't expect professional hospitality from the wait staff at all. If you can look past that perhaps you can enjoy the food better. I have much better experience at other places like Happy Beef Noodle House (which is actually more of a Taiwanese food) also mentioned on the list.

Freedom To Beat Up The Press

You aren't some bona fide superstar if you haven't beat up some photographers or paparazzi. Li Yapeng, now joining ranks with crazed Icelandic singer Bjork, is now an official press beating celebrity. Just looking at the video, mind you, shot by the paparazzi corps, you wouldn't know if Li was protecting the privacy of his family or her daughter as alleged by Li himself. It's not like he was hitting the photographer while he was snapping pictures of his daughter or inflicting possible bodily harm to members of his family. He just hit the photographer when being called the bluff by another reporter on the scene. I guess that just made it less defensible. He was outraged so he hit the photographer, he wasn't protecting his family. By doing that I think he stooped even lower than the paparazzi he so despised.

The press has taken a beating when it comes to reporting the Beijing Olympics. You got just as much as freedom as Beijing allows. And very much at the discretion of the Beijing law enforcement agents, i.e. the cops who have little idea to respect the freedom of press. For freedom is a concept too remote or freedom is a right inherently given by the state or by the law enforcement agents from that part of the world. The poor guy Alex Wong even admitted he was scared shitless during the time he was detained. And admitted signing some paper before his release. Where was his boss, the SCMP? Wong you just need to find another real paper to work with.

The obligatory YouTube from ESWN.

War Photographers Not Needed?

A fervent wish for any war photographer is unemployment, said Robert Capa, one of the world's best war photographers. But not like this. The Iraq war has been one of the most sanitized war ever (I just totally made this up, no citations my friends). You could hardly see any casualties at all from all the MSM. Zoriah Miller (it's not perezhilton.com) was practically fired and barred from the Marine Corps for publishing images of killed Marines. WTF? The Americans simply don't register the war in Iraq.

Picturing casualties. (images contain dead, wounded civilians and soldiers)

Olympics Fever

An Olympic without scandals and controversies wouldn't be called an Olympic. The New York Times now have a dedicated section for this year's Beijing Olympics.

The latest controversy is China maybe pushing girls with baby teeth and in diapers to compete in the Women's Gymnastics events. The athletes in question are He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan, both are believed to be under aged and yet have passports to prove they are indeed 16, the minimum age for the Olympics. Note He is actually a she here, see pictures from the New York Times.

Nikon D700

The Nikon D700 is slowly getting into the hands of most amateur users. The D700 has a circular viewfinder with light curtain, I think having a circular viewfinder is impressive. It's a buy if it's $1,000 like roughly what I paid for my D70. Or when my D70 bites the dust, I will get a FX D700. Or if at craigslist, some wife is dumping his husband's D700 at $1,000. (note: It's virtually impossible for a D700 to sell for $1,000, maybe in the used market.)

Some Pictures

I shoot with what I have. I just used my Nikon 18~70 mounted on my only DSLR, that's the lowly D70. The camera can be a noise machine. Oh well, what you going to do. I needed a faster shutter speed in low light so the only option I had was to crank up the ISO which inevitably introduced noise to the pictures. The D70 is a general purpose DSLR for photo enthusiast, the AF is fast but not like D3 or D300 kind of fast and by today's standard, it's rather feeble. Anyway enough excuses. Sometimes, I do think, may be it would be better off just to switch off the AF and focus it myself. Given the subject distance from the camera and the focal length of the lens, I don't believe focusing is that critical. And I think I did get away with some lousy focusing without making the pictures too bad. Of course, that's my opinion. I didn't bring my Nikon 80~200 so there is no close-up shots.

Adobe Flash Crashes

Adobe Flash still crashes my system. I suspect it has to do with my old AMD Athlon chip from what I gathers.

I am running Ubuntu 8.04. Flash 9 or 10, Firefox 3. Flash 9, the production version, definitely without a doubt crashes Firefox 3 big time. I have to force quit the browser. I downloaded Flash 10 beta. Things get a bit better. Flash plays but not correctly, the audio will speed up in the midst of playing but it won't crash the whole browser but essentially defeats the whole Flash experience. It's Flash 10.0.0 d525. This is anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt.

What's Happening In The Backyard

Tomato Harvest

Big-Ass Propane Grill (OKAY, not so big but still big)

To Answer My Fans Question

To my millions of fans out there, I am sorry. No, you can't find any dead tree publication of this blog anywhere. You can only read it here online, period. My blog is really a Web log (yes, they are the same, my writing log on the Web, whatever), an epitome of no-holds-barred online personal journalism, an embodiment of self empowerment on the Web at its finest . If I were to agree with any publisher to create a dead tree version, that would be a total betrayal of a technology I so embrace.

END OF BS.

(ps: i love the word "epitome" as much as anybody else, i am going to use it knowing full well that I might face the wrath of online vigilante par excellence whose name shall remain unknown ....)

Eminent Domain

I revisited the NYPL exhibition Eminent Domain yesterday. Because I like photography. The exhibit is just close by so it really won't hurt to see it again.

Last time I didn't own a TLR and today I do own one so I have a newer perspective that I didn't have back a couple months ago.

Some of the "street photographs" were taken by Zoe Leonard. Her forty pictures in exhibition were all in square format and further online searches reveal her aesthetics is really uncropped unphotoshopped pictures (and a bit more but those I don't understand and I don't care, something to do with shooting pussies). And in some of the pictures, I can actually see the photographer's reflection, with hunched back looking down a waist level viewfinder. What I am trying to say is she is a TLR shooter using 6 x 6 film, probably FUJI NHG. For the untrained eyes, myself included, her pictures are really snapshots of certain mundane street scences. But somehow when put together, having enough snapshots of similar themes, they kind of give themselves a voice, a collective voice. I am no artist but I think I somehow can appreciate her works. I remember once I read, a picture of a manhole cover (manhole as in a sewage opening on the street, not ass hole as in anatomy) is not that interesting but if you take pictures of manhole covers and make a collection out of them, then it could be very interesting. I guess Leonard's pictures are one of those manhole pictures, a single one of them is not that interesting, but if you have enough of them, they could be interesting.

More Leonard:-
An interview with Zoe Leonard, from the Journal of Contemporary Arts (I don't know half of what they are talking about)

John Edwards Love Child Scandal

I am wondering why there is no reportage on MSM on the Edwards scandal. What is the journalistic standard of what story to break? I remember New York Times broke Spitzer's hookergate. I don't watch TV 24x7 nor do I read the New York Times back to back but still I don't think there is any coverage at all. What gives?

Project Runway

Green fabric? I thought Heidi KlumTim Gunn was talking about the color. But it's green as in environmentally green.

The challenge is to design a cocktail dress for the chosen models. The catch is the models are the ones doing the shopping. Right there the garbage bag lady, or nobody really knows as Stella, was bitching about somebody who doesn't know anything about fabrics doing the shopping for her. So there you have it, the negativity and excuses. To be fair, most other contestants were portrayed in that light.

Models brought back fabric, more bitching from the designers. Stella more bitching about not her aesthetics, not tough-looking and urban. I got it, because the model wants something "elegant and classy" and all she is capable to do is some garbage bag skirt bullshit aesthetics. OKAY, I should keep an open mind.

More whining ....

Suede outs himself as a bisexual when sewing up his strips, strippy cocktail dress. I thought he is gay so there is the element of surprise.

Gunn says no immunity from the winner but the winning dress would get made by bluefly.com

OKAY, Blayne the tan crazed blonde kid thinks Stella is ridiculous too. So, it's not just me.

NATALIE PORTMAN is the guest judge, it seems so obvious, she is such an avid environmentalist.

Shame or fame time ... Garbage bag lady got some compliments "much improved from last time," "She works her style into her dress." She is vindicated and happy. I think she is safe this round.

Judgment time: So Suede is the winner. I think it could really go either way. But Portman loves it. The top is is made of interweaved red and white strips or made look like so. So it's kind of a total mess or whimsical depending on the perspective. But since Portman's the guest judge and I think that definitely sways all other judges to that whimsical view. Personally I think the other woman Kenley should be the winner, it's more grown-up and elegant. But I can see why Portman likes the strippy one ... she is a pint-sized lady and she likes something more whimsical and petite perhaps.

Leanne and Wesley are the bottom two ... Leanne is in. And leggy Wesley is sent off for a poorly made dress, too short, too shiny, too busy .... whatever.

Links

Angry Youth by Evan Osnos.

Beach Reading

I was at the Sunken Meadow State Park beach this past weekend, again. This is one of the cheaper way to enjoy the summer. The gas is now $4.40 a gallon and the park admission is $8 per car. We bring our own food. Cheap entertainment is fun too.

Between yelling at the kids and playing in the water (also eyeballing bikini clad chicks too, but by and large, the beach is really a family beach with mostly overweight adults like myself, not many killer bods to look at, so I am mostly minding my own business ... ), I was actually able to read something, half naked under the sun.

I didn't know what David Carr looks like until I got this week's New York Times Magazine. I was appalled at how skinny he looks now and how overweight he was ... so I guess something major must have happened in between these years. I knew I wanted to read the article so I brought the Magazine to the beach. The article was adapted from Carr's soon to be released memoir "The Night of the Gun."

This is addiction literature, arguably popularized by James Frey, except Frey's memoir "A Million Little Pieces" turned out to be a fraud. Carr, in his own words, seems more careful in tracing his days of addiction some twenty years ago, with interviews from family members, rehab staff, friends and with family pictures and mug shots on the cover to back his story. His tumultuous relationship with women, drug abuse came to an end, albeit slow and gradual when his twin daughters were born more than two months premature. Carr doesn't fall into the trappings of victimhood or in any way romanticizes his abuse, at least I don't read it that way. Things were presented as a matter of fact. The chronicle of his addiction is a mix of gravitas, humility and humor, which makes it a great read on the beach or I imagine at home too. Carr might think "we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds," but his reportage on his darker years is anything but frauds.

Me and My Girls by David Carr, published July 20, 2008.

Superheroes

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.

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.