Camera Crazy
21/05/2004
I need to get a grip
We went to Alan Photo today and I was mesmerised by the Panasonic Lumix FZ10. It’s got very impressive specs for an Ultra Zoom (not so) Compact that will be in the same category as another favourite of mine, the Canon Powershot S1 IS. I figure that the only thing *really* impressive about the Lumix is the Leica Lens.
| Panasonic Lumix FZ10 | Canon Powershot S1 IS | |
| Resolution | 4 mega pixels | 3 mega pixels |
| Optical Zoom | 12 x | 10 x |
| Image stabiliser | Yes | Yes |
| Video Mode 320 x 240 | 320 x 240, 10fps, with audio, no limit | 640 x 480, 15/30 fps with audio, unlimited |
| Macro Focus Range | 5cm | 10cm |
| Remote Control | No | Optional Wireless |
| Storage | SD | Compact Flash |
| Battery | Proprietary Lithium Ion | 4 AA |
| Approximate Price | S$920 | S$860 |
Re-optimised for Mozilla Firebird users
It’s not like I’m going to get another camera. But it’s still a fun hypothetical decision to make. Another thing going against the Lumix is that it’s huge. It’s the size of the Canon G4 (or maybe larger). I think I’d still go for the Canon S1. I really prefer AA batteries (4 AA NiMH 2300 MaH batteries will cost me only S$16, vs the Panasonic one which will cost US$50 and are hard to find), and I’d like a camera with the remote control option.
In the end, after all that drooling, I bought myself a nice 52mm Polariser lens for my Canon A80.
So what becomes of you, my love?
When they have finally stripped you of
The handbags and the gladrags that
your granddad had to sweat so you can buy
My head is splitting
20/05/2004
Woke up on the wrong side of the bed
Shouldn’t have bothered to wake up at all. It’s such a hot day, and now I’ve a splitting headache and I’m about to kill someone. The drilling and keyboard pounding is annoying the crap out of me.
El-Cheapo is in the house
18/05/2004
Flower power!
I’ve been into the whole flower thing, since I bought the vase some weeks back. The square Muji one that was 20% off.
Last week, I tried Chrysanthemums. They were ok, but it was a large bunch and I had to stick some in a Bunderberg bottle. So here was the weird thing. The one stalk in the Bunderberg bottle lasted from Monday to Sunday. I threw out the ones in the Muji glass after 3 days because it kept wilting and the water kept going rancid.
I tried again with Gerberras in the Muji vase. Same thing, this time they only lasted 2 days.
Last night I bought a bunch of roses. Left it in the Muji vase, last I checked this morning it was ok (and opening).
Speaking of flowers, I’ve been getting them from Cold Storage. It’s cheaper than getting it at a florist -
- Chrysanthemums (about 4 stalks): $2.50
- Gerberras (4 stalks): $3.50
- Roses (10 stalks): $8
What I don’t like is that there’re not always chilled, and in pretty bad shape.
Last night I got the roses from Carrefour. There were some in the fridge, so I took those.
- Roses (9 stalks): $4
F·R·I·E·N·D·S Will be back on
17/05/2004
F·R·I·E·N·D·S
Will be back on Channel 5 for it’s last season. It’s like watching them flog a work horse till it dies – and this is the bit just before it collapses. And the finale was so well covered by the media, that you couldn’t surf 2 pages without some news article telling you what the ending was.
But anyway, this leads me to my thing of the week. What makes friends?
Type “define friend” in the Y! Search box and you’ll get:
friend: NOUN: 1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
OTHER FORMS: friendless, friendlessness
If you don’t like someone most of the time, but you still know and trust that someone, is that person still your friend? Sounds more like a relative, but that’s much easier since you can’t do anything about it. The thing about friends is that there is always the option to do/not do something with the friendship.
I used to let them lapse. For example, when you leave school, or a workplace – naturally your life at the present consumes most of your time, and more often than not, you meet them less, talk to them less, after a while, not at all. There are some friends where I can pick up with where I left off, 3 years later, sometimes more. Sometimes it’s hard not to even talk to them, so you make the effort to meet and catch up just so things feel like old times. And there are those which lapse, and the next time I meet that person – it’s like meeting someone new.
What’s bizarre is that it gets more complex sometimes. Like sometimes someone starts off great, and grows on you the wrong way. Sometimes, it’s not even really a friend, it’s like a friend by association (someone else’s friend, someone’s girlfriend/spouse/sibling), and you try not to shun that associate friend because of your relationship with your friend. And then sometimes it’s a proximity thing. You’re kind of friends because you’re in the same project group, class, workplace. And sometimes, it’s because you were friends way before you wisened up to the element of choice in friendship (like in primary school) and now you can’t get out of it elegantly. Sometimes there’s the whole guilt element involved, too. Like what changed? Why did warning signs not appear earlier?
Sometimes it’s a combination of so many things. Sometimes you think you’re the one choosing, but the party in question feels the same way of you and you’re both trying to be polite.
So then there should really be just 2 categories of friends. The truest are the ones most people have, in primary school you’d call them your best friends, I’d consider them the only category of Real Friends. They’re the ones you can pick up with years later as if time hadn’t passed, the ones you’d not have to think hard to talk to, the ones who make conversations fun.
And then there are the circumstantial friends – we all have those. And sometimes if you’re lucky, a circumstantial friend makes the leap into Real Friend territory, and that is a good day.
A friend in need is a friend indeed
I always thought that it meant a certain category of people will ingratiate themselves and draw on whatever little friendship they hold with you when they are in need.
I only truly understood recently that it was actually a measure of friendship.
Am I missing something? I guess this is why it irks me, it shouldn’t have to be so complicated.
Dollars and cents
16/05/2004
All good things must come to an end
Well, for the month at least. I hit my Launchcast quota for the month – 400 songs later I’ve been downgraded to mediocre quality streaming and no skips. Those are like the most annoying things someone could do to an internet radio service, and I suppose it would probably be effective in converting freeloaders like me into paid subscribers. Of all the paid services out there in internetworld, I’ve considered quite a few seriously.
- Increased email storage and stationery – Available with Y! Mail Plus. Thankfully I held out, and now with announcements that Y! will increase email storage to free subscribers “this summer”, it’s one less thing I’m going to be worrying about.
- My personal domain – The reality was that there was no good publishing system at the time for that to have been a real prospect for me. Add to that the fact that I had really no purpose.
- Web Hosting – This was a consequence of my personal domain, but ironically, I eventually purchased my hosting from a reseller so I could add pictures to this blog.
- Enhanced Blog features – I think being able to send an email to update your blog, or send an mms to your blog are too cool. Unfortunately, I am not willing to pay for features like this. Not now at least.
- Launchcast – Not being able to skip songs, and the low quality music stream is really annoying. But I figure I’ll just rely on the TV on till the end of the month.
The toothbrush revolution
I love the electric toothbrush (ET). My first ET was a Philips Jordan rechargeable toothbrush my brother got me for Christmas probably sometime 1998. Between then and now, I’ve had 3 Brauns, 1 Colgate and 1 Oral B.
The Oral B Cross Action Toothbrush
My favourite is the Oral B Cross Action ET. It’s light, takes 1 AA battery (great if you use rechargeable batteries – so there’s no downtime while the toothbrush is charging) and the brush head is quite effective. I can’t say if it’s really the cross action working, but I think it certainly does more revs per minute.
KF and I saw it at the supermarkets sometime early this year. It cost slightly less than S$20. What put us off though, were the brush heads, which cost $20 for 2. It’s usually 3 for the same price. Yeah, cross action and all, but it was expensive.
Well, when I was in San Francisco – I saw the Oral B Cross Action ET again – this time for US$5.99. Brush heads were the same price. So I bought a set, and a bunch of brushheads.
Couple of days ago, we saw the same toothbrush in Watson’s and Cold Storage. Now it costs S$25.
Don’t rain on my parade
14/05/2004
LaToya London was robbed
It’s sad. But it happens. And a week later, it’s back on its original course. I guess American Idol is one of those shows where the whole wide world watching (in America at least) screws you over, instead of maybe the few people in your tribe.
The weekend looms
Sometimes it feels just too damn short. I’m complaining on Thursday about the impending Monday, which is a little ridiculous, but nonetheless, not completely unexpected. Was testing Sharkie’s new camera, to compare with mine. Check them out (they were taken on different days, and I adjusted the settings on my camera in that shot, I took a few plain ones – but they were shakey).
Click the images to view/download the full-sized photo.
This was taken with the Canon Ixus 430, on portrait setting with macro
I realise that I wasn’t exactly focused on the same thing between the pictures, but I took them on different days so I couldn’t really remember what to do.
I like the Ixus because it’s real nice and small and nifty – fits into purses nicely – and I think all the features are mainly there. Except you’ll have to look a bit harder for it. On the A80, the dial takes care of a lot of settings. I can’t really see a real difference in the quality of the pictures, so I’m impressed with the Ixus. But I wouldn’t trade my A80 for it, I prefer using 4 AA batteries than 1 proprietary lithium battery.
You can find out more about the cameras at:
• dpreview.com: I find DP review too technical and dry sometimes. So I usually just go there to check out the specs and compare cameras. They’ve a fairly up to date and comprehensive camera news section.
• dcresource.com: I like DC Resource because of the friendlier, casual tone they take in the reviews, and the test images are taken around the Bay Area.
If you’re wondering where to store your digital photos:
• Yahoo! Photos: 30Mb of space, and you can share your photos while you chat with the Y! Messenger Photos IMV. It also has a nifty drag and drop upload tool.
• Webshots: Unlimited storage, but maximum of 200 photos. Url is a bit convuluted, but there is a nice application to upload, rotate, name and organise your photos.
• Imagestation: Sony’s photo storage and printing effort. Unlimited storage, and prints are quite cheap – US$0.19 for 4R (only available in the US). Have not tried it.
Cat got my tongue
12/05/2004
Adding insult to injury
Over the weekend, I bit my tongue taking a large chomp of some fluffy chinese pastry thing. It was a hard chomp and I really don’t know why I’ve to chew everything to smithereens (including stuff like porridge, jello, custard, tau huay) but I did and spent the next 10 minutes reeling from it. Two days later (AKA today) the sting from it still lingered, and I think it planned to grow into a full grown, mature, responsible ulcer like all the rest.
But today at dinner, I burnt that same part of my tongue on hot cheese. Ouch is an understatement. I don’t know if burning it on hot cheese will do anything, certainly not sterilise the area, so I’m prepared for the worst. I mean, if I feel like I can’t even feel my tongue without feeling pain, I should stay home and recuperate right?
Troy
Let’s start with the pros:
- Brad Pitt is hot in every conceivable way: when he’s in a skirt, when he’s in a skimpy sarong thing, when he’s in a toga, when he has girley hair, when he’s dirty and beaten, when he’s about to croak, and especially when he’s not wearing anything.
- Eric Bana is so cool, he makes the stupid mop of hair look inspiring.
- The fight scene between Archilles and Hector is right up there as one of my favourite all time fight scenes. I think it’s right up there with the Darth Maul sequence from Star Wars Episode 1. It made me feel the same anguish.
- Eric Bana and Brad Pitt did the scene themselves, and so I’m doubly impressed. It was definitely the best part of the movie.
- The weather looked fantastic.
- Peter O’Toole makes anything sound good.
- Sean Bean is no Boromir here. His performance as Odysseus is remarkable, and he delivers his ikky lines inspiringly.
- Brad Pitt got the tempermental Archilles down pat.
Now lemme get to the cons:
- The script was dry and utilitarian, and completely inelegant.
- I came home, and turned on the TV – The Sopranos was showing. And the first line was already better than any other in Troy.
Harry Winston, baby! That thing’s got more carats than Bugs Bunny!
- I came home, and turned on the TV – The Sopranos was showing. And the first line was already better than any other in Troy.
- The movie was edited the same way: choppy and abrupt.
- The movie was paced to display fights. Everything else around it seemed like just placeholders to tie the fight scenes together.
- The mammoth fight scenes are so last year.
- Brad Pitt’s delivery of his utilitarian lines was uninspiring and awkward
- The movie was “inspired” by the Illiad. Homer fans shouldn’t go there expecting to see what you read brought to life.
Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars.
I’d watch the movie – it’s still pretty entertaining, the boys can decide if Diane Kruger is indeed the face that launched a thousand ships.
Probably a good date movie, it being an epic and all, and the love-theme thingey (though if I was the date, I’d really be comparing my date’s ass to Brad Pitt’s, and almost anyone would fall short).
More Greek Mythology for the curious.
Afternoon entertainment
11/05/2004
I know I should be working
But right now, I’m distracted. These are the culprits:
- Sony Imagestation: unlimited image storage
- The Age Project: guess how old they are
- Survivor Insider: let the All-Stars convince you to cast a vote for them
- IMDb Glossary: what’s a gaffer or a key grip?
Feel like a million bucks
11/05/2004
Finally, a Survivor Finale I can sort of feel ok about
Yeah, yeah it was trite with the Rob and Amber engagement, and Jerri Manthey with her moving we’re real people speech and the Big Tom and Rob reconciliation, but I’m really quite happy that it ended this way.
I’m glad Shii Ann got the car, I’m glad Amber won, although I think Rob was really smart to insure himself half of that million bucks.
And I’m talking about this as if it was real. Anyway. You can vote for who you think deserves a million bucks (US) too. We’ll find out on Friday who won that audience vote.
Show me, show you!
10/05/2004
Weirdstuff
We need another Superhero to save the world, preferably Asian.
Survivor All Stars Finale
I ran home to catch the Survivor Finale today, even though the results were out since early afternoon. The last time I checked, 4 unlikely people were left in the game: Rupert, Jenna, Rob M., and Amber. In the end, Jenna turned on Rupert for reasons I just don’t get, and then lost out on immunity by just a bit. And now I’m waiting to see if the Jury picked Rob or Amber. And it really doesn’t matter, because between the both of them, they’re $1.1m richer.
Fitting it all in
The other day when Muji went on sale, I bought a plain glass vase. It’s square, instead of cylindrical, about 15cm high. So today I went to Cold Storage and picked up a bunch of chrysanthemums, $2.50 a bunch and they look like daisies (they don’t smell so great, but if you don’t breathe, everything’s ok!). Well guess what? The vase was too small, so I had to chop the bunch up and dump some of the buds, and separate one of the stalks and stuff it in a bunderberg bottle. I think I’ll try the bunch of 4 fluffy chrysanthemums the next time. I think the vase would be perfect for daffodils and other bulbs, or gerberras. When I get it right, I’ll post a picture, right now it looks like a truck carrying flowers ran into the vase and exploded.
