Fifty Shades of Grey

Unless you live under a rock or out of this world, you probably have heard of this so called mommy porn, Fifty Shades of Grey, E L James' fan fiction based on the tremendously successful Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, which is a best seller in its own right and not so surprisingly soon to be a motion picture near you.  Of all the unbelievable stuff in the book, I found the bit that the protagonist Anastasia Steele doesn't have her own computer the most unbelievable.  And mind you the story is set in the very near past like 2010 or something and Steele is a college student major in English literature.  The book says she uses the computer at school or from work or share one with her housemate.  Wow.  I can't comment on all the mommy porn stuff as I am out of my depth in that department (OKAY, they are salacious, hot and funny).  I read the e-book version on my sucky htc EVO 4G from the library.  The whole process is not exactly intuitive and actually quite annoying, I got it work but don't ask me how.  The book is supposed to self destruct when expired so nothing to return.  The good thing about e-reading is nobody knows you are reading Fifty Shades of Grey.  Not that there is anything wrong with it.

Swim

Birkenstock Boston

Cutting grass in the backyard

Work is important.

Let the good time roll

We were at the cheesecake factory. I searched high and low, every nook and cranny, but still couldn't find any ribs on the menu. It's weird, unacceptable and above all disappointing. I am surprised the boys were given kids menus, that saved a bundle. I think I still like Outback better. This one in the mall is really big, 2-story tall. I had a 22 oz Stella and some pasta. We were full and had left-over to take home.

Unbelievable

Of all the unbelievable stuff I read from Fifty Shades of Grey, I found this one the most unbelievable:  Anastasia Steele, a college student, or a recently graduated student, doesn't own a computer, not desktop nor a notebook.  She has to use her roomate's or one from her part-time job or at school.  Wow!  She has an iPod though.

Taming of the Shrew

Nikkor 24mm f/2 and f/1.4 compared at f/2

Both at ISO100, f/2 and 1/5000s, no filter or lens hood.  So the mortgage your house lens is a clear winner in terms of color, contrast, sharpness, details (resolution) and even bokeh.  But that shouldn't be a surprise.  Both shot on tripod, live view manual focus.  If you can't tell which is which, congratulations.

(Note:  This cannot be a "fair" comparison as in comparing a current production that costs a whopping $2,000 to a out of production 1981 lens that costs at most 1/5 of the cost of the former in the secondary market.  The Nikkor 24mm f/2 is shot wide open while the f/1.4 lens is shot close down at f/2)

Ice Cream

Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 at ISO400, f/1.4 and 1/60s.  Focused on his right eye or the left eye on the picture.  I don't think there is a problem with the focusing.  NEF converted to JPEG, with a slight S curve adjusted, no USM or sharpening applied.

NOTE:  I got tons of emails asking me about the lens.  No, I don't own it.

Linsanity

Shot using a mortgage-your-house Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 at f/1.4 , 1/100s and ISO400 on the Flushing bound number 7 train.  I guess the only useful thing about this lens is to me, it can auto focus.  I find it increasingly difficult for me to manual focus my 24mm f/2 lens fast enough to grab the shot.  This f/1.4 is phenomenally quiet in focusing, I can't even hear the motor.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The latest movie adaption was released some time December 2011 with the nutty Gary Oldman playing George Smiley, the fatty, shorty and mouldy super spy whose lethal specialty is to bore his enemies to death, and the readers or audience as collateral along the way.  In John le Carre's meticulously constructed spy world, Smiley is like the Kate Moss of super spy, he is kind of old, kind of short, kind of retired but he's nevertheless proven to be the best that is out there and hence always in demand.  OKAY, not exactly Kate Moss but neither is Gary Oldman as far as physical resemblance is concerned.  The film is a reinterpretation and reimagination of the book, as such  I can easily over look any physical difference between the character in the book and in the film.  Unfortunately I overlooked way too much, I slept through the entire movie save for the very beginning and the end while being a captive audience on board of a Cathay flight over the Pacific.  I had no idea how good or bad the film was.  More importantly, the chance of better understanding the book via the movie was totally squashed.  So it was with utter disgust and dismay, I proceeded to read TTSS one more time, back to back in immediate succession.  Am I a masochist or what?  The book is a perpetual dread with confusing characters that have multiple worknames to compound the confusing factor, complicated plot lines with many tangled knots, and a timeline that goes forward, backward and sideways.  To understand the story, one must be exceptionally lucid because the story is anything but.  One is easy to get lost in le Carre's spy world in the best sense and worst sense of the word "lost."  The story, in a nutshell, is a simple one rather: Smiley is brought out of retirement because he is good, remember Kate Moss good, to hunt down a mole in the Circus.  And of course the devil is in the detail, and there are plenty of them.  In the end, the mole Gerald or Tailor as codenamed by Control the head of Circus, is caught and bored to death by George Smiley by his accusatory and lethal silence treatment.  Tailor is such a colorfully complex character personally (a bisexual painter who was born to inherit the Earth!) and professionally (a double agent, duh!) that it's impossible to know when and why (the decline of England as a world power and the hatred of America, really?) exactly he became a double agent for Smiley's nemesis Karla, the Russian spy master whom Smiley met when he was caught and jailed (boo boo boo ...) and probably felt some kind of kinship towards his archenemy--he let the man have his monogrammed lighter, a gift from his unfaithful wife Ann, the illusion of the illusionless man, Smiley.  Perhaps Karla gained Smiley's admiration because he never wavers his adherence to Moscow Centre even when returning to Moscow means death (Karla survived).  Gerald, on the other hand, chooses to betray his country, friends and lovers.  But the sin of all sins for Gerald, being a double agent is,(no, not screwing Ann, his cousin and Smiley's wife) he couldn't simply let his friend/lover die after he betrayed and "orphaned" him, which ultimately brings upon his own demise.  Fool.  In the end, the story is as much about espionage as it's about a yearning to connect, to make sense, to not to be lonely and to be loved--just like any other books or the movie The Avengers.

501

Bycycling

Shot using Nikkor ED 300mm at f/5.6 and 1/250 sec on tripod.

Happy Jaywalking in Hong Kong

Picture taken by esteemed photographer/sportsman/historian/traveler Vincent L ©2012. Jaywalking, the birth right of every New Yorker even when he wasn't even born there. Wow, I looked so happy when I was travelling and with friends.  And Jaywalking.

UPDATE:  The date code on picture is the epitome of cool now.  At some point it just turned from tourisy to cool.  Especially when it's set wrong on the time code.  Dude, I don't think it was 5:57AM or PM when you took the picture. You must have left the Amazon time there.

Compare and Contrast

I thought the 300mm f/4.5 would be a much bigger lens.  I was wrong.  Compared to the 80-200, the 300mm is slimmer and lighter.  Most obviously, the 80-200 takes a 77mm filter, meanwhile the oldie takes a 72mm.  The 300mm is a manual focus lens with a huge and smooth focusing ring.  For the 300mm, focusing in of itself is not an issue.  It's only an issue when you need to focus something that's moving.  The 80-200 does a better job, at least relatively speaking, in acquiring in-focus action shots using the various AF modes of the D7000.  As in the case of digital, I can always counter my own deficiency in focusing fast moving objects by shooting like crazy (or use anticipation and preparation to increase the yield).  In terms of optical performance, I think it's on par with my 80-200mm.  The 300mm comes with a nice removable oversize tripod mount but some folks lost it, too bad so sad.  The 80-200 has a smaller focusing ring and non-removable tripod mount so it won't be lost by anybody unless you lose the entire lens.
You can definitely hand hold this lens to shoot provided you have the good stance, good steady hands, a reasonably high shutter speed and don't shoot with your elbows out like an amateur should definitely help too.

Neighbor's Front Yard

(What kind of post title is it?)
Nikon 300mm ED f/4.5.  On tripod liveview to focus.  Raw to JPEG,

This Week in Review

AAPL "surprises" all expectations, so nothing is new. The real surprise I imagine will be when AAPL doesn't surprise any more.  The stock goes back up to the $600 territory.  I fully expect Android phones gnaw at or take a big bite out of Apple's market, but so far the market is still big enough for AAPL's iPhone and iPad to grow.  I was in Hong Kong a month ago, it seemed everyone was holding a large Android smartphone. Would the iPhone 5 catches on with this super size craze? Will find out soon.

More tidbits on why Bo Xilai fell from the upper echelon of the Communist Party are beginning to percolate into the Western lame stream media. The latest being because he dared even wiretap President Hu and worst got found out about it. This is still a developing story but I got the impression that this has more intrigues than whatever Tinker Tailor Sailor Spy that I have been reading the second time.

Wow! This is news.  Who would have guessed this Anthony Wong?

Something is better left unsaid. Or so it had been for the past 25 years for the openly closet gay Anthony Wong Yiu Ming until he outed himself in front of an audience in the last day of his concert series in Hong Kong a couple days ago dressed in a stage costume somewhat reminiscent of Riktor & Rolf 2007 Fall runway show.  Wong is the other half, arguably and stereotypically, the better looking if less talented half of the duo Tat Ming Pair.  The other half is Tats Lau.  Some of the endearing qualities of Tat Ming Pair are they are somewhat alternative, avant-garde (if there is such a thing at all), disreputable, current, relevant, naughtily sexual and yet harmless enough to attract a main stream following through out all these years.  Now that the charade is over, Wong is afraid the press would have nothing to ask him about, I guess music or otherwise, mainly otherwise?  Well, the gutter press can always ask ....  Never mind, something is really better left unsaid.

A Vespa

Nikkor AI 105mm f/2.5

Grand Central

Taken with Nikkor 24mm, f/2 with Nikon LB1c skylight filter.  This is converted from RAW using the D70 profile.  I can't find any D7000 color profile out there.

Lens Shades

One nameless for the 105mm f/2.5 and the HK-2 for the 24mm f/2.

The HK-2 is such a delicate piece of apparatus. Now I know perhaps why it's kind of rare and expensive. Not long after taking this picture, the screw simply broke off. I have the impression that the way is designed is really faulted, the filter like screw in or the snap on is so much better. The HK-2's tightening screw or in Nikon's parlance slip-on to prevent vignetting on wider angle lenses is really is Achilles's heel. Perhaps getting the Nikon HN-1 hood is the way to go. I am not going to take another chance with HK-2 again.  KEH is going to issue me a refund ....  They are pretty good at that.