The Invisible Killer

I think there are few things as frightening to mortals as the idea of an invisible killer stalking them. Of the many invisible killers stalking mortals, ionizing radiation is pretty salient at this point. Specifically the ongoing meltdown over at good ole Japan. Lovely.

Right, then. There have been reports of radiation leakage at the nuke reactor, and the Chinese are understandably concerned about the situation. What's interesting is how the people at risk will grasp at straws to ensure that their continued health is maintained. In this case, there was a run on salt, because a rumor went around that consuming salt (presumably iodized salt in this case, because of the iodine content) would safeguard one from radiation related ailments.

Indeed, it seems to me that this is a really good way to manipulate the masses, by putting them in fear of their own well being. A good way to achieve this is to create an invisible enemy that everyone must band together to fight. An invisible killer that only the leadership can see for sure. Of course, that also demands the peoples' absolute obedience to the cause...

Love The Night

I've recently rediscovered my love for night photography. In general, I don't feel much like shooting at night because it's primarily about shooting the city lights. Which isn't necessarily all that awesome. Or original.

Then I decided that hell...if I was in a city full of tall apartment buildings with public access, why the heck am I not taking advantage of the readily available sniper perches. As a bonus, it's all happening at night, precisely when I don't feel like I'm having my face burned off. Sounds like a win win situation for me.

Well, so far I've been having a ball. The perspectives are fresh, and soon they shall be stale. It is then that I shall be forced to innovate again, and that is where my skills shall improve. Or not. Whatever. It's fun =p

On Iodine And Fallout

Mom received a hoax SMS saying that exposure to fallout was imminent and that everyone should stay indoors and stock up on iodine. Alarmed by this "notification", she proceeded to inform dad and he went to buy some rubbing iodine. Lovely. I do so love misinformation, especially in uncertain times.

I think it is highly irresponsible to send out such alarmist messages when it can cause a run on the iodine stocks and ultimately does everyone not one whit of good. Seriously, folks, the iodine you want is potassium iodide tablets...which, incidentally, are not readily available around these parts as of the time of this writing.

I find it interesting that everyone's so alarmed about it, when in all probability any fallout that comes all the way is likely to be greatly dissipated. In the event that sufficiently high levels arrive as to call for distribution of iodine tablets, I think radiation levels in general are going to be hazardous enough to seriously consider leaving the region for a time.

On Japan

Japan is facing a tragedy of proportions that rival WWII. Huge swathes of the island are currently waterlogged and large numbers of people have been swept away by the waters of the ocean. Yes, I think it is the perfect time to send out alarmist messages of the imminent end of the world, and to scare everyone into becoming religious. Or just scared in general.

The thing that pisses me off the most is not religion itself, but how people are warping religions purported to be about love into something that's built on hatred. I care not for the good intentions undoubtedly behind whatever it is that they're selling...I paved the road to Hell with good intentions quite some time back. And messed with their cooling systems, but that's another story for another day.

Anyway, if there's anything that can serve to aid me in losing my nonexistent faith in humanity, this is most certainly a part of the deal. Along with all the other stuff that people do that're just galling. Much as I don't like humans in general anyway, I still wish Japan all the best...if only to spite the hypocrites.

The EPL1

I finally sucked it up and bought myself an EPL1. Now, I've had an issue with my ageing compact camera for some time. Primarily, the resolution leaves much to be desired, while the image quality is passable only in the best lighting. After being spoiled by dslrs for so long, I've come to realize that I really do find it unsatisfying to shoot with a compact, however convenient its portability is. Not to mention I'm something of a control freak, which doesn't help...much.

That said, I find that the EPL1 fits the bill of compact camera replacement pretty well. It's heftier and noticeably larger than my compact, for sure. However, it's got effectively the same imaging capability of my dslr in exchange for greatly lower weight/bulk but sacrificing sheer speed. I find that to be a reasonable tradeoff in everyday carry. Never again will I have to grumble to myself that I didn't bring a more serious camera out to shoot a lovely scene that just decided to show up.

Now, that doesn't mean that the new body is a replacement for my dslr. Not at the moment, anyway. I'm sure its descendants would achieve that at some later date, however. In the meantime, when I go on dedicated photo expeditions, I'll be sure to carry my more robust and speedier body. But for day to day casuals...the EPL1 is hard to beat.

A Courageous Exit

I just got back from the funerals of two of my aunts. That is not to say that either death was unexpected considering their advanced ages. Unfortunately, it seems that my favourite aunt bought it this time, so I guess I'm a bit less than happy about the whole affair. Then again, I've never really viewed death as an entirely bad thing, so I'm not overly bothered either. It happens when it happens.

To me, she's managed to finish her life with an aesthetic that I would love to emulate were it possible. First, she was cogent throughout her life, and never did go senile. In short, she was of sound mind even on her death bed. Now, I generally find it unsatisfying when one dies a straw death. Undoubtedly, that's how she went. But what's most important is that she went to it with her eyes open. Even when she was critically weakening, she was stubborn enough not to want to go to the hospital. When her body was failing, she did not flinch. I like that. It's probably as close to dying with a sword in hand as it gets, in the modern day.

The background here, is that she was not in the best of health, and really only lived this long because of some invasive medical procedures. In fact, she did not want those back then, but they were pretty much imposed on her. Now, given a second chance to skip the medical nastiness, she finally found her exit. There were indications that she did not expect her end to be this near, and relatives who visited scarce days before found her to be greatly improved from back when she was ailing. Regardless of the outlook at the time, I think it sweet that her children chose to honor her wishes this time round, and let nature take its course without rushing her to hospital and forcing her to continue living a half life. My aunt, I honor you. Rest in peace, and know that your exit was thoroughly graceful. See...that's why she's my favourite =p

We Are Few

The eldest two of my paternal aunts died today. One in the morning, and one in the night. When I say that I am running low on relatives, I sure am not kidding. Well, that's not to say that I didn't see this coming. I had a feeling they were not long for this world, which is why I took an unusually large number of photographs at my last visit nearly a year ago. The foresight seems to have been of some use this time round.

I keep an album of the pictures of relatives who've passed on. I find there is little purpose in dwelling on their deaths. Big deal. Everyone does that sooner or later. What's more important is to celebrate their lives, and to document their finer, happier moments in photographs and video recordings. To me, that is the superior way to honor their lives, and, come to think of it, it really is a sort of digital immortality. Where the photographs of old immortalized static images of ages past, the videos of today preserve a moving snippet of their lives. I like the idea.

Hmm...and nobody make a joke about how my camera sucked the souls out of them. Though, of course, as a photographer I do think it is my job to capture souls in images... It brings them to life =p

New Year's Haul

I was looking at my red packet loot, and realized that my haul has been shrinking by the year. In fact, it's reached an all time low this year. Strangely enough, the individual amounts have not changed much, so there should be little reason for the overall yield to be lower...right? Wrong. I failed to factor in mortality.

Note to self: ensure that red packet givers are immortal, to ensure consistent yields. After some thought, I realized that my haul can be attributed to the shortage of currently-living relatives. In fact, I'm currently short of 3 of them at the moment. Hmm. And not recently...I just failed to take note over the years. That'd also explain the comparative freedom during the new year period, since there are fewer family members to visit. Eureka!

On a related note, I found that the red packet amounts are a generally insignificant amount of my overall current salary, which may explain my lack of notice of the change in amounts. *checks relatives list* Darn...a bunch of them are getting old alright...

On Luck

The Chinese New Year is full of superstitions regarding how one may optimize one's luck in the coming new year. Of course, that's also confounded by the year's predictions of probable luck outcome, so the cosmos kinda sets an upper limit on how things will turn out.

Being someone fascinated by systems, I figured I'd try to break down how the things work and perhaps find a more efficient solution to the whole issue. Unfortunately, it seems that the thing does have some contradictions, so it does complicate the matter somewhat. Simply put, it does seem awfully hard to min max such an inconsistent system.

Take for example the year's forecast. Say the forecast is somewhat adverse. One tried and tested (according to hearsay) method to improve that is to clean out the house. It's supposed to remove old luck to make way for new luck. Most excellent. Except when the forecasted luck is supposed to be worse than the previous year's. Hmm...wouldn't that make it somewhat risky to let fresh luck, seeing as how it may be rancid before the year even begins?

Yup...good reason to get lazy about spring cleaning =p

Ultramarines

Warhammer 40k. Space Marines. Ultramarines in particular. Dan Abnett as screenplay writer. What could possibly go wrong? ... right? I think you know how things did actually go. In short, the movie sucked bigtime.

First let's talk about the quality. Visual quality. I am generally willing to overlook poor quality image post processing (even though that's not expected anymore nowadays), but there were too many problems with the visual quality. The composition (and camera work) was atrocious, with fog covering up what little detail there was in the predominantly featureless landscapes, and perspectives that keep the viewer from appreciating the grandeur of the architecture or hazardous landscape. For example, the characters are fond of kicking bodies off precipices, only to have them fall through a fog down a bottomless pit. At the very least they could've had the bodies bounce off the sides. The animations of the Space Marines leave much to be desired. To top it all off, the pacing was terrible, with oodles of travel time and battles that felt more like skirmishes than anything else. As any WH40K fan would know, skirmishes will not suffice in a universe of epic fights.

Then comes the narrative. It's weak at best, and I have a hard time believing that Dan Abnett was behind it. I really do wonder what was going on. Sure, there was a deployment to a planet, some Chaos scum was there...eliminated. Typically, you'd expect them to be doing more than sitting there waiting to ambush some Space Marines. Like...doing some sort of Chaos ritual, for example.

I guess the sole saving grace of the movie would be that the visual quality and action improved quite a bit towards the end, making me think that the crew was learning on the job in addition to having a rather low budget. I have little else to say in favor of this lousy flick. 2/10

Amplification Through Simplification

I was recommended Understanding Comics by my boss, and truly, it is a good read. It is pretty unusual in actually reading a comic book about comics. But what's more interesting is that the book is really on quite a serious discussion of what comics are about and how they work. It's also quite a treatise on how design in general works, and how the human mind processes it.

I find it quite clever, choosing the medium of comics to present the content of a formal book. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. But in this case, it helps to greatly summarize what the author is trying to say, without having to go through the linguistic gymnastics in order to precisely explain concepts and their nuances. Anyone who's written documents for others would know how hard that can be, without using images.

I especially liked the suggestion that comics worked through amplification through simplification. Design in general does do something of the sort. By cutting out the noise in the message, the key features left emphasized are the ones that the audience will tend to notice first. Which is why most photographs need to have a very prominent subject matter, so that the correct feature of the photo is presented to the audience.

I have not finished reading the book just yet, but overall, I do think it will be quite an enjoyable read.

Where The Wild Things Are

Once in a while, you get a movie that's pretty heavy...in the emotional sense. Where The Wild Things Are is one of them. Now, I do vaguely remember reading such a tale when I was younger, but I am pretty sure it wasn't presented quite the way this one was.

Now, there are often tales of young kids (usually boys) running off to some great adventure, meeting fantastic creatures and then coming back to reality with unique experiences. Most of the time, however, they take the form of a coming of age story, whereby the protagonist comes back all mature and better for the experience, while the characters in the magical land end up happy and contented. Not so, in this one. In short, it really is more of an end of innocence story. Everything starts off on a high note, then gradually goes south till everyone ends up miserable.

Now, some of my friends do say that I feed and grow fat on misery and despair...they're probably not wrong. This is the sort of story that appeals to me, and I find it to be a refreshing twist on an otherwise common childhood genre. 8/10

Empathy For Cloth

I just realized that I do have a tendency to have empathy for objects, and more often so than I would with people. I have this handkerchief that I owned for quite a while. It's soft and really quite nice to handle. In fact, I handle it so much that it's gone somewhat ragged.

That's normal enough wear and tear, of course. I can no longer bear to use it now, however, since every new tear in it makes me feel as if an old friend's being hurt. And of course, I'd rather that my friends didn't get hurt. So basically, it's in retirement now.

The thing is, on further analysis, I find that that's also why I would not use certain things, because their inherent beauty or some other positive attribute of them would wear out...and I'd feel their loss. It is a strange thing, and I am not sure why that is so, but that's basically how my brain works I guess.

On Lock Picking

I got my lockpick set today, and of course the first thing I did was try it on some locks I had lying around from my trip last year. Now, lockpicking was something I've intended to do for a rather long time, but I've never managed to get my grubby hands on a set before.

Naysayers like to point out that Hollywood movies show people picking locks as if they're using keys, opening locks mighty swiftly using a simple pick set. Obviously, such techniques are highly unlikely when one's faced with a high security lock. But I only had my cheap travel locks at hand, so I tried my hand at those. Being a complete newcomer to the lockpicking business, I was shocked and frankly quite alarmed that I could open those locks within around 5-10 seconds of picking them. Clearly, cheap locks aren't just vulnerable to the lock cutters of thieves: they're also easy pickings.

The next step would be for me to try out higher end padlocks, to see if they're as easy to bypass. I expect them to be more of a challenge seeing as how budget padlocks tend to have a rather limited number of pins and the higher end stuff just makes it that much more difficult given their higher level of sophistication and increased complexity in their mechanisms. As someone who's crazy about figuring out systems, this is something that should occupy me for awhile.

Making A Stand

I always believe that we should make a stand for what we believe in, even if sometimes the consequences for doing so can be quite...unhealthy. Today, I got a chance to prove myself, when my family and I were at a food court. After waiting for a long time, there was a table that was clearing up. A couple was sitting at the far edge and we needed another seat to allow everyone to sit together.

I looked over and noticed that one of the seats was taken up by a pair of bags. Knowing what this normally meant, I asked the nice fella if the seat was taken. His response was that no, but he had to put his bags there. Things went south pretty rapidly when I asked him if he could move them. Clearly, this was a fella who was unwilling to give up the seat taken by his bags, and was perfectly willing to be nasty about it. It's common enough that the blow by blow account can be passed on. I only wish I had enough self control that I didn't have to resort to flipping him the finger, which I do feel to be a rather unintelligent way to present a point in an argument.

The point is that I'm pretty sure he thought he was in the right for hogging the seat, and I thought he was wrong about it. Perhaps it was my bad for not asking him nicely enough, perhaps with a few kowtows thrown in (no, sorry...don't do that). Either way, it was a rather vigorous verbal agreement and I was at the limit of my self control. It's been awhile since I managed to let myself slip up like that.

Anyway, the good thing about it is that I managed to stand my ground without completely losing it and ripping his throat out (or something similarly unpleasant) even though I think I was visibly shaking by that point. Ultimately, I hate being shoved around, and I'm sure he feels the same way. Nothing personal. I am, however, proud of the fact that I was willing and able to stand firm even though he was clearly trying to strong arm me into backing down. After action review would suggest that I be less sleep deprived, however, so I don't cut things so close with my self control.

On a related note, I find the physiologic changes quite interesting when the aggression comes on. For one, recognizing the changes and thinking "Calm down" have little to no effect. The heart beats so much faster and harder. The muscles tremble. Everything appears so much brighter than it used to be. I do wonder if I filmed myself getting pissed, would I actually see my pupils dilating? Hmm...

Suspension Of Disbelief

I've been thinking about movies and TV shows, and sometimes I think the writers really do not think through the mechanics behind the distinctive features that characters have. Take for example Tron, where the "disc" is one's most important possession, but it's effectively used as a melee/thrown weapon and really is voluntarily cast away from the user pretty often. And well...it's a virtual universe, right? Where are my machineguns or other equivalent ranged weaponry? It does seem like that would make combat a whole lot easier.

Then there's the matter of the Vampire Diaries, where the daywalker vampires (seemingly the entire bunch of them, really) have to wear some sort of trinket to allow them to walk in the sun. Well...yeah you guys are vampires, right, with super healing powers and such? Why don't you just surgically implant them, so the trinket doesn't just get lost or something. It'd be a good precaution, against having it fall off in the middle of a football game and then suddenly someone becomes a pile of dust. Or ashes. Or whatever. 'sides...these creatures are also all super strength and super speed. You'd think they'd be quite resistant to the average human trying to stake them, or even from ranged weaponry like guns. Why...if a vampire could move that fast, surely they could pluck bullets out of the air...

Well, these are really just two examples of the bunch of stuff out there that just doesn't really make sense. While I am perfectly capable of suspending my disbelief to some extent just to enjoy a narrative, I really do think writers need to think the distinguishing characteristics through a little more carefully so that such blatant contradictions do not trip up an otherwise unique character profile.

Law And Order

Presumption of innocence, taken to an extreme, can be every bit as bad as presumption of guilt. I was talking to a friend about how the law works where he is, and I was told that the police basically brought the presumption of innocence to the extreme. For them, a crime only occurrs if it succeeds. As such, someone who attempts to hold up the gas station but fails to do so is deemed innocent of the crime, and will have no penalties resulting from the attempt.

I think it's pretty obvious how such a system is totally broken. If someone tries to break into your home, but fails because you beat the crap out of them, you may well be in for an assault charge even as the would-be burglar walks free. That seems to be major suckage to me. Of course, the converse is just as bad, when one can be charged for a crime purely on circumstantial evidence that leaves quite some doubt.

It seems that while presumption of innocence is something that will keep innocents from being wrongfully convicted, it may also result in innocents being made victims of crimes from being too easy on the would-be criminals. Ultimately, there has to be a balance between the two. Unfortunately, as it tends to be with human systems, it is rather difficult to find that delicate balance point

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows...part one

Way to go, producer dudes! If a cash cow franchise is coming to an end, make the ending extra long. Like two episodes long. Gota love capitalism.

Gripe aside, I do think the movie was reasonably well done this time round. I was quite disappointed with the previous one, and really I'm not a Harry Potter fan though a friend or three would tend to want to watch it with me anyway so I just tag along. That said, I do so like it when stories take dark twists and become permeated with a general sense of desperation. It mirrors life of so well, and I dare say I can relate.

Mmm there's not a lot I can say that won't be a spoiler, and well most people probably already know the story so it hardly will be anyway. My conclusion is that the movie's worth maybe a 7/10. Pretty good, but then I've got my biases.

Personal Power

To me, a feeling of empowerment is extremely important. Integrity is equally important. As such, when I encounter people who operate contrary to my philosophy of life, I get pretty peeved at them. This is not a rational evaluation of them as people, but rather as a measure of their own life's philosophies.

One example is personal relationships. Take friendships, for example. To me, a friend is a person who is friendly to me, and whom I can trust to guard my back to some extent. As such, there are few people I would actually call friend, and a whole lot of friendly people who are just friendly in relational terms. I wouldn't trust friendly people with my back. Now, I've learned that some people view friendships in terms of debts of gratitude, which disgusts me to no end. One does not take on a friend primarily or perhaps to a large extent due to the fact that friendships allow one to ask favors of another. That would be improper, in my opinion. To me, a friendship is primarily about trust, in that if the shit hits the fan, at the very least you can be sure the friend isn't going to backstab you. For those who know me, they'll certainly notice that I rarely if ever ask them for favors, because to do such a thing is an imposition upon the friendship and it sullies the relationship.

Integrity aside, personal empowerment is something that I feel is essential to everyone. Of course, I do not expect people to agree with me, but that is my opinion regardless. I was quite displeased when some people told me about something they did not like, but that they were unwilling to speak up (or complain) about it because they feared possible repercussions. In my opinion, a valid complaint is valid regardless. It should be presented to the relevant authority in a polite, logical manner. Any reasonable authority should be expected to receive this criticism in good spirit, and act accordingly. To fear to speak out is to accept personal disempowerment. That is unacceptable. I do not claim that discretion is unimportant, and indeed sometimes there are better times to speak out. However, there is no excuse for keeping mum out of a what-if fear. Worse yet, if someone uninvolved in the problem is told that others are afraid of speaking out because of their fears, the person is forced into an unhealthy situation: She can become involved by becoming the voice (and therefore a patsy) of the oppressed, or she can become a hypocrite by leaving them to pluck up their courage to speak up for themselves. True, it may not be actual hypocrisy by not speaking up for others if the only thing keeping them quiet is their own fears and not some actual risk of personal harm, but it certainly does not leave the affected one with a good feeling about herself anyway.

The other thing related to disempowerment is self-deprecation. This is even worse, because one is now voluntarily underpricing oneself. Again, there may be tactical choices made to hide one's prowess in special situations (like to avoid a fight, for example), but overall I believe one needs to be truthful about one's abilities. When someone is clearly self deprecating, my respect for them takes an instant nose dive. On the flip side, I can tolerate boasting but overboard boasting also ticks me off.

On a related note, deprecating others is something that will guarantee a perception nose dive. For example, showing a lack of confidence in another's abilities is plain offensive. If someone claims that they can do something that's plausibly within their abilities, saying something to the contary like "We'll see if you can REALLY do that" or its variants is just nasty and mean. Even if it's in jest, there's a pretty good chance that I'd be offended. It's bad enough to be out in a world where everyone's challenging one another to prove themselves with stupid acts. It's even worse when someone's challenging someone else to do something that they can plausibly do and will probably do anyway. To issue such a challenge robs the challenged of honor: There is no glory in achieving the goal because doing so can effectively be considered doing someone else's bidding. There is shame in failing to achieve the goal, because the challenger is proven right.

Overall, my rant boils down to the core idea that one should first live for oneself, and not for others. Only through being comfortable with oneself, can one truly come to terms with the concept of helping others. There is no life in living for the sake of approval by others, or from believing oneself in some way inherently inferior to others. We are all Great Ones, if we would only be willing to embrace our potentials.

Let Me In

Well I'm just back from watching Let Me In with a coupla friends. Long time friends whom I've not met for over half a decade now. It's amazing that they still remember me. Anyway, 'nuff on me and more on the movie. I dare say that I really did appreciate it, and it's a rather decent remake.

Now, the narrative is largely the same as Let The Right One In, and it does stay reasonably faithful to the book's narrative even though a few key areas were significantly changed. In fact, I am struck by how the director managed to reproduce choice phrases from the translated book practically verbatim. I dare say that the camera work was stellar, and while the film was made with almost exclusively close shots, the intimacy of the scenes were striking to the extent that one did not miss the establishing shots. I would call it a masterpiece in terms of camera work.

As is expected, the remake is significantly bloodier than the original, and a whole lot less subtle. In fact, the very act of making the blood and some key action bits obvious has resulted in fairly comical moments. I would not help but see Eli/Abby as Gollum in certain scenes. Some drawn out struggles wound up laughable instead of brutal. That aside, I certainly felt for the acting, and it really was close enough to the original to be worth seeing as a comparison. I also do wish the directors would refrain from turning every damn story into a romance.

I find that the original suffers for the lack of awesome camera technique, and this remake suffers from a lack of subtlety. If the two could've been put together, with the camera from this and the subtlety and narrative from the oldie, I'd have the perfect rendition of the rather fine book. I'd still give this movie an 8/10, however.