Ubuntu 11.04

Zzzzz

UPDATE:
The start up takes longer.  Come on, I do turn off my computer so a longer startup time is almost unacceptable.  The interface, well it takes some time to get used to but hey it's subjective, after a while I kind of like Coca-Cola too so you never know.  But start up time is objective.  You got to make everything faster not slower.

Film Scans

The top one was shot with the newish Kodak Portra 400, Hasselblad 500C/M and Carl Zeiss 80mm f/2.8.  I like the color and the grain isn't bad at all.

The middle two were shot using a Yashica Mat-124G and Kodak Ektar 100.  I like the color and everything.  I am always pleasantly surprised by how good the images are coming from such a small lens of such primitive contraption.

The bottom one was shot using a Nikon FE and Kodak 400VC.  I don't like the color and grain at all.  This is not the first time.  I don't know if it's because underexposed.

凱特

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!  Number one, Kate is not her official name, Catherine is. Number two WTF is 凱特. It's just a terrible sounding name. Maybe it suits her I don't know but I don't think so.

Royal Wedding Fever

Just in case you can't get enough of the Royal Wedding (Or I just want to annoy people with an animated gif).  I think the gown is just pretty and contemporary without the fuzz and fluff.  It's down to the essentials, a veil, a train and a very slimming bodice.  And the royal red is just impressive.  What's not to like?

via Kate Middleton For The Win.

Royal Wedding Fever

For those of you who catch a bit of Royal Wedding fever, and yet don't have a day off like in England, I suppose you can still catch a bit of the festivities on YouTube.  If you're too cool for the Royal Wedding then never mind.  I am all for people being happy and getting married and living happily ever after.  And I like the over the top silliness of the spectacle too.

Random Excellence

Nikon announced another 50mm yesterday.  That inspired me to shoot my 50mm today.  Hey nothing's wrong with it.  Just save myself another $220.

Something To Do

Mother's Day is coming and how do I know about it?  Because I don't live under a rock; all the channels I frequent are beginning to remind me that.  I never feel the need to know or remember when Mother's Day is.  When the time comes, I will be reminded.  I need to do something about it.  I knew I need to get a card to send home at the very least but I kept forgetting for the past couple of days.  And I forgot again today.  I thought I am going to get one during lunch hour but again I forgot about it.  Somebody's birthday is coming up soon.  So I have to think of something.  Thinking is hard.

Obama Trumped

Obama relented.  At long last, the president provided his birth certificate.  Trump wasting no time took full credit and went on to caution that the certificate needs to be checked out.  I guess this will never end until Trump finally announces in June that he is actually not running for president.

Your Casio Will Land You In Guantanamo

image from guardian.co.uk

Casio got its latest cachet from Al Qaeda (and despite whatever people say about Toyota, they just love their Hilux, anyway, NASA clears Toyota's name also, if you still believe in NASA).  Just like all the cheap skates around the world, the Al Qaeda loves a good cheap Japanese watch as much as anybody.  The parting gift of choice for a bomb making session is said to be a cheap chic Casio wristwatch.  32 detainee reports make reference to the black Casio F-91W model while another 20 link detainees to a silver version A-159W.  Black wins in the popularity contest while silver wins in the scarcity department.  But rest assured both can and will land you in Guantanamo.

via The Guardian.

Google Videos Makes Amends

A week after Google Videos* issued a missive telling users their content won't be available for playback after April 29 and download after May 13, Google Videos did a 180 and sent out another email, sort of conceding that they could do better and OK nothing will be broken.  So the demise of Google Videos is at least postponed.  I am still a bit disheartened that the original files aren't available for download; it's the converted FLV files that are available instead.  I understand it's not exactly a file storage service but I always think Google can and should do better than me.

*  Google Videos is confused from day one, it says video on email but on the web site it says videos.  Not a good sign.

D7000 Firmware Upgrade A:1.02 B:1.02

I skimmed through what the firmware is supposed to do.  I don't think it fixes anything that's wrong with my experience.  Essentially I think my D7000 is flawless as it is given I knew exactly what I got myself into, that's it's a DX sensor camera so I don't expect all of a sudden the firmware will make it a full sized FX sensor or it will take 10fps or 30fps at 1080p though they all will be nice if implemented but that would be like a dream comes true, somewhat scarily unrealistic.  And the AF and all those finicky stuff?  I think the AF works fine with my camera.  I myself need a better pair of eyes for sure.  I need better AF lenses but given the astronomical and never comes down Nikkor prices lately, I think I will stick with my good old manual AIS lenses for a long long time.  It's just economically not feasible to me.

HEA ROOM

picture hyperlinked from Terry Richardson's.  update:  hyperlink "expired".  Here is a screen capture for illustration purpose.

Here to you kids in Hong Kong who love to hea.  I don't know the etymology of the word but I know it's kind of popular in the ever changing youth vernacular.  What's shocking, to me that is, is an unemployed(unemployable?) kid, in a mock job interview, uses the word freely as he describes himself likes to hea around shopping malls in his spare time when asked how he spends his day while unemployed.  I think that's pretty shocking.  Kid, you gotta lie.

The Pirate Life Of President Obama

picture from The NYTIMES.COM

The latest article The Young Mother Abroad on the Sunday New York Times Magazine by Janny Scott, with photographic evidence, confirms unequivocally that Obama was once a pirate.

Scott's article wasn't particular interesting or revealing except for a few things.  First and foremost, the cover photo which strictly speaking isn't by her, depicts a fiercely funny Obama and a lovely, loving and protective young mother Stanley Ann Dunham.  The piece goes on suggesting Obama's stepfather, Lolo Soetoro might have given his mother a bloody nose and Dunham prescribes corporal punishment on the young Obama by "spank(ing) him with his (step)father's military belt."  This is all from Saman, a domestic helper of Dunham's Indonesia's home.  Apparently it's reliable enough for the New York Times to print them.

Hanna

The wild child grew up in the wilderness can be seen impossibly a double pierced ear lobe in a 5-second cheesy head shot.   As much as I want to like the Kool-Aid director Joe Wright dishes out, once I saw that, the suspension of belief crumbles down like a sack of potatoes.  The movie stars two of the fairest female actresses you can find on earth, if they get any whiter, I probably need to wear sun glasses to sit through the movie.  I always like Eric Bana, he's a manly man.  Alas his character is kind of I don't know maybe lame.  Erik, that's right, Eric Bana's character, first potentially significant fight happens off-screen and I am left forever wondering how he disposes of the two (border) policemen.  The look of Hanna (not the character, but the movie), feels oddly like The Bourne movies but just not as good and lacks the obvious kinetic momentum that propels the movie forward or the more subtle but well crafted moral dimensions of the Bourne series (Bourne Supremacy in particular).  The finale is also lame.  So all in all, it's a let down.

As far as young female freaky protagonist movies go, Hanna ranks the last, after, Let Me In/Let The Right One In and Kick-Ass.  It's not entirely bad so long if you can admire and don't look beyond the thoroughly, flawlessly translucent skin of Miss Ronan's.

Flushing Noodle Restaurant

Sent from my thumbs.

Beef stew and wonton over broad rice noodle soup and oyster sauce over greens.  $13.  Surprise, the wait staff actually talk in Cantonese (and of course, the open kitchen hooligans can be heard in the vulgarest Cantonese, like the perennial evergreen fuck your mother's stinky cunt).

This is an A rated restaurant.  Classy.  I could not find it listed on the department of health web site with the name outside the restaurant.  The food is OKAY, but the wait staff, all women, seem to be friendlier than most other Asian/Chinese restaurants I frequent.  A pleasant surprise.  But still the general attitude is still take it or leave it with minimum hospitality.  They won't open up unless you talk to them first.  It's vastly different from the cheerful staff at Uno's, Outback or Applebee's.

There is nothing to write home about the food.  It's decent, it fills up the stomach and it doesn't give me diarrhea.

Restaurant located on Roosevelt Avenue, near the subway station on Main Street.

C For Clean

This, Hop Won Express, is the only restaurant, or greasy spoon that I know earned a C rating from the department of health.  And I am a regular.

For long time readers of my blog, you know this blog is where all the fancy food reviews are, not.  And you can count on me to go to where devils scared to go,  from normal shitty to extra shitty places and let you guys know the inside scope to help you decide whether to experience them (or diarrhea) one day.  I just Googled the New York City Department of Health's detail report, holy cow, this is really the place to be--If you eat there and feel fine most of the time like me, you know you have a healthy stomach and a strong immune system.  For delicate wall flowers try some place else.

The above hyperlink doesn't work (search result not part of URL)

Violations from 04/13/2011 Inspection
Tip! "Critical" violations are displayed in red.
Violation points: 49
Violations were cited in the following area(s).
Sanitary Violations
1) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F.2) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.3) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.4) Live roaches present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.5) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.6) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
7) Pesticide use not in accordance with label or applicable laws. Prohibited chemical used/stored. Open bait station used.
8) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
9) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained and/or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.

Suspenders and Jeans

Pattinson wears a pair of suspenders (or braces) but not actually wears it.  It's tricky.  Poster copyrights belong to its rightful owners.  Image from imdb.com for illustration purpose only.

The latest cinematic suspenders wearing chum who does a good job wearing them is Denis Meochet whose character, Perrier LaPadite, in the opening scene of The Inglourious Basterds (2009) seems just right at home holding up his pants using them while smoking pipe and chopping firewood.  Not a big role but sort of begins the movie with the right tone, sadly the movie goes downhill after that.

Pattinson can be seen in the poster wearing, very likely, a vintage looking Levi's with suspender buttons.  A similar if not exact product is currently available for mass consumption, the Levi's 201 selvedge rigid jeans, part of Levi's workwear collection.  The thing with this model is kind of troublesome.  It 's supposed to be somewhat loose fitting and yet I read people whinge about how big it is.  I can't imagine wearing it tight and then "holding it up" with suspenders.  For me that would be ridiculous.  Or even worse, putting on a belt and a  set of suspenders--believe it or not, I actually saw on YouTube a woman--a self proclaimed beauty and style expert, telling people how to wear a belt and suspenders, the clip-on type no less, what horror, together (I cringe watching it again, and she says boob loop, and look at the rainbow color plastic clothes hangers in the back.  Good entertainment).  I mean suit yourself.  Life is too short to care what others think.  Anyway, with the suspender buttons on the outside of the waistband, three sets and six of them, I don't think it's such a good idea or all that comfortable, running a belt through the belt loops and on top of those not-so-small suspender buttons.  The back pockets has rivets, the type that actually has the the little nipple thingy out instead of the flat one.  The hard nipple thingy can and will damage your saddle if you're horse back riding or your creamy leather seat in your Land Rover.  I think Levi's got rid of them, or modified it so the head is flat nipple-less or just hide it on the bar of the back pocket, for a very good reason.  The cinch back buckle is there and thankfully the double-pronged bar is beneath the cinch fabric so it won't scratch anything.

The 201 looks good but kind of hard to wear it well because it just looks a wee bit weird wearing a pair of suspenders with a pair of jeans nowadays.  Even(or unless) you are that good looking like Mr. Pattinson.

Fetishization of American Made Shoes Complete

The inevitable fetishization of Alden shoes is complete with today's New York Times article on high-end American hand made shoes.  Are there even such things as low-end hand made shoes?  I know it's coming and it's just about time.  The article mentions a few American old cobblers like Allen Edmonds, Quoddy and Florsheim in addition to Alden.  One quote is quite interesting and mildly disappointing coming from a native from Wisconsin.

“I had no idea there were actually any footwear companies in Wisconsin,” said David DeZur, 36, a designer for Florsheim (which was originally based in Chicago). “And I grew up in Wisconsin.”

I know at least one shoe maker in Wisconsin that's been making triple vamped moccasins since 1898. Might as well stay out of the hype before it jacks up its price ten folds and further increase its current 20 weeks turn around time.

The Sweet Bitter Truth

After reading the NYT article, Is Sugar Toxic?, I think I will stop drinking soda.  Maybe for a week at least.  Over here, Coke still uses high-fructose corn syrup or HFCS whereas in England, it is disallowed--a friend told me that, if it's wrong, blame him not me.  I was reading the article through a tiny screen under glaring sunlight and chilly April wind in what some calls 15 years ago China, aka Flushing, sitting on the dirty slimy stairs outside the closed Flushing Main Street library on last Sunday's morning while one of my kids was practicing kick-ass Kung Fu in preparation to defend himself in the corridor of one of New York's finest public high schools in the not so distant future.  The article was as chilly as the swirling air and only got chillier as I read on, so I don't think I will ever have the courage or stomach to read it again on paper or otherwise.  But the take-away was all sugars are bad, they cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease and get this, cancer.  I used to kill a whole large pack of gummy bears in one afternoon.  No more.

Yu Gi Oh Cards and Nikkors

I think it's outrageous to pay $10 for another pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards.  But then when I look at my lenses, I can't say with a straight face that "They all look the same, why do you need another pack?"  Well they look the same to me but entirely different in the eyes of a card player.