Monthly Archives: November 2006

Universe It Is

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You know it’s filler, filler night. *grabs crotch ala the Gloved One*


Taman Jaya in infrared, with a bit more white balance tweaking.


Pump up the saturation.


Shift the hues.


Lighten the greens.


Run to the hills.


Retirement.


The wise crow.


Lomo-colored.


The rain is like grain.


All I did was oversaturate!


Tiny fisheye.


Kelana Jaya.


Land of weird clouds…


…on both sides.


Universiti.


Rainbows look the same through polarizer filters (though rainbows are a result of light polarization.)


A knobly… thing.


Leave a message on the phone.


Vertigo.


Pipe dream.

Why I Don’t Like Using Firefox

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So I downloaded Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0. I still prefer IE. Why?

Show Picture


(This is a screenshot of IE6, with Show Picture as one of the menu items.)

Firefox is unable to load images by right-clicking and choosing Show Picture. BLOODY ANNOYING! This is especially so on sites which have lots of pictures, where it only loads halfway and gives up. On IE, I right-click and Show Picture on each picture. On Firefox, I have to reload.

Of course, on blogs with permalinks, I open those unloaded ones in a new window, but what about picture galleries?

Image Placeholders

In Firefox, some sites do not show image placeholders. I have no idea what causes this. In about:config, my browser.display.show_image_placeholders is already set to true.

Remember Me, The Proxy Password!


Firefox doesn’t remember my proxy password. It doesn’t even ask if it should remember.

Also, when the proxy server is down, the prompt keeps reappearing and bugging me.

Fanboyism

Why do blogs bother to say which browser was used to comment? Is the credibility of someone dependent on the browser and operating system he/she uses? Keep that trivia to yourself, you geeks. You make me ashamed to be a geek.

(I might as well put a sexuality option in my comment box. Or maybe this function will find better use in Lainie‘s blog.)

Addressing Issues

Whenever I Ctrl-N on IE, it remembers the address; Firefox opens a blank page. However IE7 decided to copy the behavior of Firefox by NOT copying the URL when pressing Ctrl-T. When I Ctrl-N on a page, I want to load another instance of that page (in those sites where they have annoying Javascript navigation bars that won’t let you Ctrl-T on those links, e.g. DPReview.) I then click on the link on the old window.

It’s just an option I wish they had. “Copy address to new window?” How polite.

It’s also useful when pressing Ctrl-N on a pop-up, to see what the address is. But IE7 takes it a step further! You can see the address bar! (It’s not editable, but you can copy the address!)

Transparent Flash

Developers bitch about transparent Flash here.

Make a flash that is transparent, and you won’t be able to click underneath it in Firefox. Very frustrating when you need to click on the HTML forms underneath it!

As for add-ons, I them pure and stock, like Porsches. 😛 Okay, fine, I have the Mouse Gestures add-on for Firefox and Developer Toolbar for Internet Explorer, but that’s it. I keep them simple so I don’t feel lost on other computers which do not have all my favorite add-ons installed.

Compability

Look, you can brag how much your code is correct by whatever standards, but if half the people can’t see it, why bother?

It’s more important to be backward compatible than to follow standards. Exactly which browser (or phone) chokes on a single <br>? Of course, HTML breaks in funny ways if you close your tags in the wrong order, but having to do <br /> is pointless.

I also see loads of HTML coders finding pains with CSS. Why go through all that effort? Use a table and stop bitching about how padding should or should not be. I’ve been using CSS for years now, but sometimes you just need to use good ol’ table work. Or simple hacks like stuffing all of your header into one imagemap. Calling the header image from CSS is just making pains for bloggers who wish to modify templates. I’d just slap a <center><img src=”http://www.glaringnotebook.com/zimages/(the link)”></center>. It works. It still works in Firefox 2.0. It even works in Internet Explorer 4.0. Don’t give yourself a shitting headache.

“But sir, <center> has been depreciated!”

So have the Scroll Lock and Pause/Break keys, but they’re still on keyboards and still work.

Can your site be viewed in some cybercafe in some remote area?

Memory Hogging


Both browsers consume about the same amount of memory… but wait, what’s that extra firefox.exe doing there?


I then pressed Alt-Home on both (to get both browsers showing only a blank page.) Firefox did not dump its unused memory even after a minute.


It was not until I loaded another page that the memory was properly reallocated. I think my huge amount of pictures brings up the memory usage compared to the Flash-heavy Xfresh. Weird.

Responsiveness

I clicked Firefox 2.0, then Internet Explorer 7.0. IE7 loaded first, FF2 a few seconds later. That’s the thing about Microsoft’s highly-integrated-with-operating-system programs – zippy. That’s why I still use Notepad. It’s instant.

Firefox also tends to stall when I start to download a file. That makes all the tabs unclickable for a while. (Apparently, the download manager should be cleaned often to avoid this.)

Firefox also tends to crash more often, taking all the tabs I hadn’t read to hell. With Internet Explorer, I can still salvage it because it prompts me, and I can type out the address in Notepad. Firefox just disappears.

Nothing does not crash. I’ve crashed a Mac. I’ve crashed Linux. I’ve crashed Notepad. I’ve seen iPods crash. Give me the keys to your Volvo, and I’ll crash it, too. 😀

The Tab’s On Me

IE7 supports tabs now, and it seems a hell lot more responsive than Firefox 2.0 when it comes to multiple tabs. By the third link I Ctrl-click on my links, Firefox stalls. I’ve always been a multiple window surfer, and Firefox greatly disappoints; I’d Alt-Tab in IE, and it would be up sooner.

Also, one thing about IE7’s tabs that I really like; when you open a new tab, it loads to the right of the current tab, not at the far right end of all the tabs. If I wanted to quickly switch to that window, I can Ctrl-Tab there, and Ctrl-Shift-Tab back to where I came from. On Firefox I have to keep Ctrl-Tabbing till I get there, then Ctrl-Shift-Tab till I get back. This option is enabled with “Open new tabs next to the current tab” in Tabbed Browsing Settings.

But hey, I have to use Firefox at home despite it annoying the heck out of me; Internet Explorer 6.0 cannot zoom text that is specified by pixels in CSS (damn you CSS coders who think small text is cool!) I need that zoom for my 19″ CRT on 1600×1200. 😛

Laundering Over October

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October 19th, 2006: For once, Project Bazooka‘s gig had as many people as a Moonshine gig! Rock on.


Seven, funky jazz fusion band.


Edge Of Fire, featuring Dragon Red‘s Amil on bass.


Daniel rips out metal tonight.


Ivan, on Amil’s pointy James Hetfield ESP guitar!


Ian behind drums, and a… human drum stand.


They then do Whole Again, acoustic.

While waiting for Dragon Red to come on, the deejay plays Pantera – Cemetery Gates. I go wild and headbang, frantically looking for Amil or Adam to headbang with. The rest of the crowd seems impervious to Dimebag Darrell (RIP) and gang. I was there that night to see the loudest music I’d ever see in Laundry Bar (well, I missed Love Me Butch…)


DJ Naz-T of Dragon Red is next.


They did an acoustic set, including a cover of Incubus – Drive. They also did not have a bassist; before their set I asked what happened. “Oh, we have a replacement bassist, so if you see a bassist around, you might know who it is.”

I didn’t want to find out until they got on stage, but I spotted Melina of Tempered Mental holding a bass and hiding. Hot damn! But she was very fit for the role.


Mike stand head.


Amil, reunited with his ESP JH-2.


Dragon Red gets a birthday boy to sing along.


Jangan tak rock.


I caught this shot by accident.


Adam and the glove of fury.


Well hey, isn’t that Zarul the harmonica player and Alda the bassist? No, this was another gig – Isaac Entry And Friends at Laundry Bar as well, on the 26th of October 2006.


Isaac Entry’s last gig at Laundry. Semi-acoustic blues and light funk, which goes somewhere from John Mayer to B.B. King (but in a less dinky setting.)

I went up near the stage with Paul‘s camera because he didn’t bother to, to take some of them 50mm F1.8 shots in his Laundry Bar flickr gallery. (Though after seeing the results, I think F3.5 would’ve been better.)


I was trying to capture the motion traced by the disco ball lights, and caught a pensive Sarah instead.


Escalator at The Curve.


Sarah also propagated her new camwhoring ideas. She had been a willing subject before.

Oh, and of course, pimpage for the next Moonshine this very Thursday:

What: Moonshine: a homemade acoustic show
Where: Laundry Bar, The Curve
When: 10pm 9th November 2006 (corrected!)
Who: Force Vomit (from Singapore), Bittersweet, Reza Salleh, Solsta’ (from hitz.tv’s Blast Off Season 2)
How much: Free, but you’d get thirsty

More details here.

Reviews In October

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The company I work for gives me 20 days of leave, of which I rarely take. And so, at the end of the year, I do Leave Clearance to avoid it going to waste. That means Tuesdays and Thursdays off for the rest of the year! Yay, I get more time for geeks and chicks. And yeah, free movies.

In retrospect, I wish I could take Fridays off so I could hang out late on Thursday without worry, but the work comes on Friday. I cannot really take two days off in a row because the office would miss me too much, so I take alternate days. The worst part of taking alternate days is that everyday feels like a Monday, coming in after a leisurely day.

IMAX is so real, it’s like Boog really pounced on me.

Open Season has to be seen in IMAX 3D. You’d wanna reach out and pet the bear!

I then saw Robots on ASTRO, and I greatly regretted not catching it in IMAX 3D. The movie was made for IMAX, with all the action sequences.

How does IMAX work? The glasses are two polarizers, one 90 degrees from the other. Same goes for the two projectors; each is polarized differently. The left polarizer cuts out light from the right projector and vice versa. I tested this with my polarizer; turning it would fade between the two images being projected on screen at the moment.

On to more funnies.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby was alright; there were some great intellectual moments, but there were more slapstick moments. Still, Will Ferrell plays the arrogant uneducated buffoon best in Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy. The intellectual moments I love are classic Homer Simpson humor – “Heh Heh Heh! Lisa! Vampires are make believe, just like elves and gremlins and eskimos!”

Or, like “How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?” Teehee!

I didn’t expect too much from Talladega, from the trailer, knowing that I would always compare it to Anchorman. Same went for Nacho Libre, which had that pointless stoning at the camera brought by that director of Napoleon Dynamite. School Of Rock was what got me a fan of Jack Black.

I finally saw Saw on Halloween night. Wow.

John Tucker Must Die was good! John’s brother reminded me a bit too much of Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You, with the cynicism and long locks. If forced to make a choice, I’d pick the girl who played Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), though Ashanti was good. They made Jenny McCartney look real old though. 🙁

Also, this (and Talladega Nights) did not have that annoying bluish digital video tone. Colors were natural and vibrant.

I also managed to catch Frankenstein In Love and was entertained. (Go read the blog, that’s entertaining, too.) Once you stop trying to make sense of things, you get some pretty neat one-liners. I didn’t get how Mary George was a ghost and then a nurse… but then, this play had an excuse to be disjointed; after all, it was about Frankenstein and his mishmash of monsters. Some other plays were much less coherent. I didn’t recognize Ari Ratos, as he wasn’t playing a bumbling idiot! U-En Ng wielded yet another hammer, true to his style. Melissa Maureen also looked a lot smaller than I remember. I wanted to stay and apologize for mistaking her superstar friend as a supporting cast but my friend had to run.

I think I’m Doctor Frankenstein with digital cameras. Wait till I blog about it. (Or see a sneak preview off somebody’s blog.)

Paultandotorg Calls It RWD

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…Railwayday. paultandotorg, smashpOp, thepinkfrog, kaypopotamus and I went to KL Sentral KTM Komuter station to take pictures. Of course, going to Paul’s link won’t get you pictures of trains, so click here for his exciting Railwayday gallery.


The pink green frog misses his train.


We headed to Kuala Lumpur KTM Komuter station (once, this was the main station, not KL Sentral, and we had to walk a long while to get to the Pasar Seni PUTRA LRT station. Ah, the good ol’ days.) Seen here is Paul looking menacing upon finding that someone was taking his picture!


The sun cast dramatic lighting all over the distinguished, colonial look of the station.


We made it through the dark passageways.


Next on our plan: The KTM Headquarters.


…featuring square crops.


There was this underpass…


…which we didn’t want to leave because of its Matrix-like lighting.


Look I did a pinkfrog! (The style/composition of the picture.)


Stairway!


Another pinkfrog.


This was at a mosque.


I like how the stars form a diamond.


…and before we knew it, we teleported to Bangsar Shopping Complex where we saw this pimpin’ Bentley.


Finally, here comes the leftover square-crop pictures; clockwise from top-left: A rare, camera-shy cat at the Kuala Lumpur station; so many flagpoles in such high density, whatever for; the roof to the entrance of Bangsar Shopping Complex; the underneath of a emergency Keluar (Exit) sign.

Dang Wang II

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Here comes the finale to the Dangi Wang Dang Wangi pictures. But first, a trip on the monorail, in infrared, with infinity focus on my Fujifilm Digital Q1 manual-focus infrared-modded camera.


Leave me behind.


Pylon.


The city looks weirdly like a patch growing amongst low-rise buildings.


Stadium Merdeka.


The new mosque near Hang Tuah Monorail. (All these shots on a moving monorail train. Hail the infrared-sensitivity, which gives me a sure 1/2000th of a second exposure, fast enough for all motion!)


I got back in color on my old Canon Powershot A520 for this, from a window in Berjaya Times Square.


Athena is not mirrored.


We headed to Dang Wangi, with a most discriminatory signboard. No rempits!


This was not shot in monochrome. I don’t know how it got this desaturated.


Still standing.


Raymond metering.


They closed the site where we camwhored previously!


There was another still open, but not as appealing.


So we, uh, took pictures of ourselves. *insert CGI sequence zooming in to my camera, to see…*


Grace!


Without an infrared-passing filter, certain objects (like Athena’s bag) absorb infrared, thus reflecting normal light only. The rest is that color because it reflects a lot of infrared.)


It makes for a very cool accidental color-accenting effect. Most black shirts appear bright in infrared, but some don’t and may be used in infrared photography for cool effect.


A stairway near the station. The softness and vignetting are a natural byproduct of the cheap manual focus lens. Digital lomo baby!


Athena took this.


Why’d they rip a shoplot apart, I do not know.


Moss.


Grace the eternal camwhore.


Amazing; the Proton car absorbed infrared.


We then ran to The Bodhi Tree for food as it started dristling and the mosquitoes marked their territory at dawn.


Grace through the 52mm Hoya R72 infrared-passing filter.


Sneak preview of things to come. Grace’s friend Kok Kiong had an Olympus E-500 digital SLR and I got to play with it! While I’d been wondering why their lenses were all so short, like 40-150mm F3.5-4.5, it was justified because the dSLRs had a 2x crop factor. So it would crop (somewhat) like a 80-300mm on film (or around 55-200mm for a dSLR with 1.5x crop factor.) Yep, the viewfinder was dark because of the 2x crop factor. However, the 300mm-like crop was at F4.5! That was brighter than the budget lenses which usually end at 200mm F5.6. Both the 14-50mm and 40-150mm had 52mm screw threads, so you can imagine how small they were. No wait, here’s a picture.


We dashed through the alleys in the rain…


…and reached Dang Wangi LRT station, where, uh, KJ dictates his plan for world domination, and an interested twisted sadistic tyrant listens.

Dang One-Ghee

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I brought Asyraf, Steph, Xian Jin and Kingsley to somewhere behind Dang Wangi, behind the famous pork-serving Yut Kee restaurant. (Thanks to Agent Jacintha for introducing me to that place!)


WHOA SWEEET a Toyota Scion xB! I love this toaster tuner car!


Broken bricks.


Windows 1975.


Anyway, Xian Jin was the first daring one to step into the ruins.


Kingsley risked his life posing there, as a drug addict could leap out and stab him with a HIV needle RAWR!


We found this freaky picture freshly glued there. While Asyraf snaps away, Xian Jin is the slave flasher!


I spy a pink frog.


MEOW! Get away!


And so, we went to eat at Yut Kee’s.


Pork chop!


We then headed down towards St. John’s Institute. Xian Jin goes to great lengths for his shots.


We photograph everything.


“Abang ni terrer laaa…”


Xian Jin reprising the role of slave flasher.


Steph is blown away.


Modern windows in windows.


Druggies are friendly. Really. Some of them anyway.


Monkeying the vines.


Nope, they did not break.


Chair on chair action!


Goal post.


Flowery tree.


I forgot how I got to this custom white balance, but it worked. This time, Kingsley was the slave flasher!

Part Two will come, from a different day, with different people, featuring mostly the Fujifilm Digital Q1 manual-focus infrared-modded camera the next time around.

October In A Flash

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It’s the end of October, and it’s Stock Clearance time! Random unrelated pictures with some helpful technical details follow.


Paris Hilton’s album launch at Zouk, with emcees Joey G and Paris Hilton Daphne Iking.


This was in Manual Exposure mode; when flashing, there are a few variables that control the exposure of the flashed subjects and the unflashed subjects, namely:

ISO – increasing the sensitivity makes the flash appear to reach further. It also increases the brightness of the unflashed subjects.
Aperture – same effect as ISO; brighter apertures (e.g. F2.8) make the flash appear to reach further, and brighten the unflashed subjects.
Shutter Speed – choosing a slower shutter speed brightens the unflashed subjects. Faster shutter speeds can kill off the light that is present, so choose 1/500th of a second to make it seem like the only light is the flash. A slow shutter speed can leave motion trails on a moving flashed subject, or leave some colored lighting on the flashed subject.
Flash intensity/power – a more powerful flash reaches further. In this case, the flash power is at 2/3rds (so it only hits the front dancers and not the back dancers.)


Cindy! These are the same ol’ dancers I see everywhere!


Flash the smoke!


I say to Cheryl: I’ve got a tent. 😉


Ooo. Smoke.


“What’s up dog?”


And now, for more pussy!


Stalker.


Stalked.


Laundry Bar’s furniture doesn’t look so cool in daylight.


There it is, for everybody who doesn’t know where to find Laundry Bar in The Curve; it’s under that pointy dome, near Cineleisure.


I like how the wheelchair dude gets mall wall space.


Ciplak plays dress up every appearance.


A normal macro shot of a not-found-in-Malaysia Nokia phone.


If only I had second-curtain flash.


The difference between a bright and dark aperture; left: F2.8 is a bright aperture; right: F8.0 is a dark aperture, needing slower shutter speeds, but lets more objects appear to be in focus.


We now proceed to the National Science Center. When I was a kid I always wanted to be an inventor!


Wow, a wau.


Now that’s fun.


Corny heart.


More flash balancing, featuring smashpOp and Kingsley.


Left side, top to bottom: A 52-67mm step up ring and a 67-72 step up ring; my Fujifilm Digital Q1 manual-focus infrared-modded camera with an empty 52mm ring superglued to it; so I can screw filters in front of it, (though I have to remove filters to focus) ending with the 52-67 reverse macro adapter, which makes it kinda cute.
Right side, top to bottom: The two rings were superglued, so they are male on both sides, at 52mm and 67mm, to make a reverse macro adapter to mount Paul‘s Nikkor 50mm F1.8D lens in front of his Nikkor 18-135mm F3.5-5.6G lens to make supermacro like this hole; me behind the adapter behind my Canon Powershot A520.

Speaking of supermacro, check out this guy’s setup on a Canon Powershot A70; he did it way back in 2004 with a flash, even! (However, gluing two equal-sized threads may not give as much surface area.)