tin_the_fatty weblog

My old man has been using an old BBK DVD player with his plasma TV.

I saw the Pioneer 410V HDMI upscaling DVD player in PCM (local computer-AV-gadget mag) and told him about it. He went around shopping and bought one from Fortress in Causeway Bay. But he forgot to grab an HDMI cable, so it is now plugged into the plasma via a component cable. Will upgrade soon.

The best thing about this DVD player is the USB socket (for plugging a USB thumbdrive, or better still, a honking big HD) and plays DivX encoded movies. Oh it does 1080p, not that the plasma can go this high.

Will test it some more when my old man picks up the HDMI cable.

From inmediahk.net:-

無線電視生活台的《全民開講》一般會在播出前兩天錄影。七月二十四日，原本該播放七月二十二日錄影的節目，內容是關於警權的，除了慣常幾位評論人外，來了兩位被警察拘捕及脫衣搜身的年青人。可是，觀眾在七月二十四日看不到這一集，而且，可能永遠看不到。為甚麼？無線的官方說法是，錄音方面出了問題。

七月下旬，無線《全民開講》的負責人，打算以「警察濫權」及修訂的「搜身指示」作為題目，透過邵家臻，找到麥家蕾及王浩賢兩位，他們與其他十幾位朋友，於去年十月五日，抗議市建局清拆利東街，後被警方帶回警署，警察要求他們脫衣搜身，有女示威者更指有男警經過觀看。

麥家蕾與王浩賢於七月二十二日到達無線電視在將軍澳的錄影廠，出席《全民開講》節目錄影，出席的除了主持邵家臻外，亦有何國良、游清源與涂謹申作為評論嘉賓，無線亦曾邀請香港警察公共關係科派出代表出席，但最後不知何故沒有警方代表出席。麥與王兩人在節目內主要講述被搜身的經過，評論人亦討論了警權問題及搜身指引所涉及的問題，全程大概花了兩小時便完成節目錄影。錄影期間及之後，負責製作的工作人員亦沒有表示有任何技術問題。

節目原定七月二十四日播出，但是，王浩賢發現該集節目沒有播出。王浩賢表示，他於翌日致電該節目的一名編導，她解釋說，當日節目的「聲音錄得唔 好」，所以沒有播出來。王浩賢即時說，他們二人可以來無線補拍，因為，他們覺得這議題重要，希望能願市民知道。該編導說，此事她不能作主，星期六開會，會 再跟監製及導演商量。但是，該編導或任何無線電視代表均沒有主動聯絡二人。

七月二十八日，王浩賢再打電話給該名編導，她表示，開會當日沒有正式討論，而接著的星期四，有其他「hot issue」，要錄影也要再遲一段時間，但至於「遲」到甚麼時候，她也表示不知道。

一位在本港電視台參與電視製作差不多二十年的收音師指出，他從來沒有聽過或試過事後才知道錄音失敗，因為，錄影過程中會用多個喇叭監聽，甚至會回帶 （playback）檢查。另一位在電視台工作了十年的編導亦指出，這是幾乎不可能的，他自己亦沒有試過或聽聞發生這樣事情，他甚至斷定，有人故意臨時把 錄影片段抽起，令人懷疑無線受到某些壓力。

一群關注警權濫用的市民組成了「民權行動組」，決定於星期日( 八月三日)晚上七時半，在旺角西洋菜街舉行一次民間版的「全民開講」，並邀請原有的主持及評論人，以及麥家蕾與王浩賢，一起討論警權，並向市民交待無線電視台「臨時抽片」這事件。

Blood and gore! Movie 1 (~20MB) and movie 2 (~120MB).

Update (25/7) : James said he couldn’t finished watching the 2nd movie (too much blood and gore?) The Lady had no problem watching it thou. She said once the lamb was dead taking its carcass apart wasn’t so bad. She even noted that there was a lot less blood than expected.

I don’t know too much about animal slaughtering, but seeing that the lamb died in around a minute, I think this is no more or less cruel than say Halal.

Should I upload this to YouTube for my 5 minutes of fame?

To prepare for a little presentation in the debriefing of our Archaeology trip to Inner Mongolia, I was going thru the video footages I shot during the trip. I have therefore had an opportunity to review the use of my Sony CX7.

Video filming is hard. Staging is necessary for decent results, and by decent results I mean at the end of it we would get a bunch of footages which we could edit into a semi-watchable short movie of ~5 minutes.

I think I am going to get a decent monopod to help stablize the camera. This upsets the whole point of an ultralight videocam, but I am convinced that an HD (as in high density) ultralight videocam might be a silly idea (unless the new Sony CX12 have a much better anti-shake stablizer that renders a monopod/tripod unnecessary, but I’ll believe it when I see it).

The wide angle adaptor is a MUST for shooting people from the normal 1-2m distance. Too close and you don’t get the environment. Too far out and others start to stand right in front of you blocking the camera. I must admit, the WA adaptor is kinda big and clumsy when it is on the camera, but I had it on for the whole trip. It still hasn’t come off. Remember to bring lenspen plus a decent lens cloth. The big front element attracts quite a bit of dirt and it really gets onto the video shots. Oh the WA adaptor can’t take a protective filter.

The BMF battery is REALLY USEFUL. The standard battery is good for backup but it’s a total pain to keep watching the battery level.

The internal mic picking up wind noise is a big problem when shooting outdoor.

2 8GB memory sticks were adequate for my use during the trip, and I only got to use one of the 4GB memory sticks for once. Maybe I should just get an extra 8GB memory stick (or a 16GB memory stick when it comes out) for extra safety margin. As I use the videocam to shoot live events, I do not try to squeeze the last minute out from a memory stick, and usually just change it when I still have 5 minutes or so of space left.

I have yet to figure out how to convert AVCHD directly to other HD formats such as H.286 (in Quicktime format) or DivX.

I had a wisdom tooth extracted from my lower left jaw yesterday. Will deal with the rotton molar next Thursday (or Sunday if I am lucky) but the infection is still giving me pain.

Some big-gun oral surgeon did the operation. Small complication (extra leg on the wisdom tooth) so it lasted a little longer than the normal 20 minutes. Must praise modern medical science and technology. Pain factor from high to low: infection from molar, paying for it, operation.

So I am taking it easy today by staying at home.

Will need to extract the wisdom tooth from my lower right jaw in 6 months’ time.

Intelligent Design is a load of bull. QED.

I checked out the new iPhone 3G at a Hutchison 3 outlet in Tuen Mun yesterday.

I loaded Google News on Safari over the 3G network. Performance was quite agreeable, and the gorgeous screen! I could read it all day!

It is not cheap thou. HK$4,680 and HK$5,640 to take the 8GB and 16GB models out respectively. 24 monthly rebates. Still, this is no more expensive than other Smartphones with similar data plans.

Having said that, throw in a year of MobileMe subscription (~HK$800), and one would have a very solid push email/calendar/contact system.

James mentioned that (paraphrase) the iPhone 3G is one of the most featureless Smartphone on the market. I replied that if features are the only deciding factor, we would all be using Swiss Army Knifes. Simplicity is how Apple does it.

I really like the kit. Not that I am buying one, for (i) my personal email/contact/calendar lives under Google; (ii) my employer gives me a Crackberry; (iii) I am already addicted to the Internet and would like time away from it.

[Oh, the saleslady said that the iPhone 3G is not SIM-locked. So it could be used in China with a China Mobile pre-paid SIM, althou GPRS charges might be hefty. At least one doesn’t need a seperate phone going in China.]

I took my old Domke bag with me on this trip, and it has worked really well. It holds a DSLR w/ kit lens and a 50/1.4 (not used at all), 1 spare camera battery and 2 spare videocam batteries, a GPS, a Photobank, a pair of gloves, my hat, a notebook, a pack of wet hand towels and other small bits.

However, only one hand-carry bag is allowed for Y-class passengers in China, and this is strictly implemented (except in Beijing), and this created a small problem for me. I wanted to hand carry both my cameras and my laptop computer, but the computer wouldn’t fit into the Domke bag. I had to put both the Domke bag (together with its contents) and the laptop into a tote bag and carried it pass the security check.

I therefore see one of those newer small rucksack which could hold a laptop and a camera plus lenses and accessories to be very useful when travelling.

Or bring a plastic shopping bag along and put the laptop into it to carry across the security checkpoint. For some reasons plastic shopping bags are not considered a hand-carry luggage.

Been running around not getting quite enough sleep, so updates have slowed down.

House moving.

Da Zhao Temple, the home temple of Qing emperor Kangxi.



A big Buddist scripture wheel.

Some fscking!!!! hot!!!! dry chilli pepper. A small one had my mouth burning!!!! for 10 minutes. AVOID. AT. ALL. COST.

We then took the plane and flew to Chifeng in the afternoon.

We took a tour bus to the grass field

and visited a Mongol tent cluster, for tourists.

We had some traditional Mongolian tea and snacks. This is that salty tea. With stir-fried millet.

We had some local friends who are into traditional Mongolian singing and dancing to come with us, and we got the traditional Mongolian traditional guest-welcoming treatment. (Sorry, no photos.)

Did horse-riding. (Again, no photos.)

Lamb about to be slaugtered, the traditional Mongolian way. I shot some movies of the whole process. Blood and gore!

Dinner time!

It is not water in the big wine glass. It’s 37% proof spirit. ~12 500ml bottles of that stuff, among the 14 of us. Scary…

Finest lamb and beef I’ve ever had.

The new Hohhot Museum. Gigantic square in front of the museum. WICKEDLY COOL. MUST. SEE.

Free to get in. Sunday morning. Long queue right before 9am.

Astroturf behind the museum.

Handsome museum staff.

Huge dinosaur. It visited Hong Kong not too long ago.

Ancient rock drawings in Mongolia. These are replicas.

Hmm…

Mongolian mobile tent. Genghis Khan had one which could seat 100.

Christian tomb stone. Probably from the Tang Dynasty.

Huge lump of coal.

We took the afternoon flight from Shenzhen, which took three hours to get to Hohhot. Got bumped up to First Class. Absolutely charming air hostess. Food was so-so. Got there at ~1800 hours. The aerial view outside the window when the aircraft was approaching landing was simply stunning.

Nice new airport. Style of Norman Foster. This place is rich. It’s nice to be rich.

Absolutely charming weather. Hot and dry.

The city mostly looks brand new. Nice buildings all around. You could have mistaken here as some nice European country.

Dinner. Lamb steak. NICE.

Lamb’s head. (I think this is only half of it.) Not a lot of brain. Not bad.

A new Swiss Air Blower wouldn’t remove that spot on the CCD of my Canon D70.

Neither would a Lenspen.

I went to James’ office and tried out his wicked CCD cleaning kit, consisting of special purpose cotton slab and a methanol-based solution. That didn’t work either. In fact, more dust got onto the CCD.

The Lenspen took care of the new dusts.

Now I am convinced the original spot is not dust on top of the CCD filter. I have no idea what it is. It could be dust between the filter and the CCD (how the hell did it get there in the first place?!), or some corrosive dust that left a mark on the CCD filter.

Crap. I’d need to find out how to take that CCD dust reference photo.

Brilliant movie!

Taken at the Temple of South Sea God.

Kids at the Lady’s school have just written an essay on “My Favourite Movie”. Funny one kid wrote about Snake on a Plane, but this is not what I want to write about.

A few kids wrote about 10,000 B.C., but they all mistook the name of the movie as “1,000,000 B.C.”, when homo erectus (the Peking Man being a kind) was still around and homo sapien had not even evolved. This indicates that those young kids probably have the wrong perception that the modern homo sapien has a very long history.

The download was fast (over 300KB/s!) and the upgrade was pretty much seamless. A few plugins are not yet compatible with Firefox 3 and have been automatically disabled, pending update.

A total non-event, which is the best kind of upgrade.

I had the pleasure to visit Tai O during the Dragonboat Festival in 2008.

I don’t think the Dragonboat Festival has been a favourite traditional festival of my generation, and certain not for the younger generation. Traditionally there has been live! TV coverage of dragonboat races in different locations around Hong Kong all morning and early afternoon, so there is nothing else on, and this is a bore to children. My old man has never taken me to any of the races, citing big crowds not suitable for children. It is a day off but otherwise non-event. And children in general don’t care about any poet dead or alive. Rice dumplings also can’t beat candies as children’s favourite food.

Despite what has been taught in schools, the Dragonboat Festival did not begin because of a dead poet. It came from the ancient superstitution that some deity in the local river wants human sacrifice, and from folklore it would appear that there was a time when young girls were offered to the river deity. This was eventually considered uncivilized and as a result were forbidden by the state. However, the habits of superstitious local folks die hard, and they turned the thing around into a sport: the dragonboat race, where the odds of someone drowning are quite high given the relatively large number of participants and the unstable dragonboats, and the race would go on until someone is “taken” by the river deity. It is not clear when the state decided to make use of the Dragonboat Festival as a propaganda to promote a passive form of patriotism by the example of an allegedly gay poet. [Citation Needed]

These days as far as the mainstream society is concerned, the Dragonboat Festival is now mostly enjoyed by members of old fishery unions, university students and professionals such as bankers, solicitors and architects alike, as a competitive sport, a tribute to tradition, and a gesture to the local community. I remember when I was a kid there were like three different sizes of dragonboats racing in their own separate leagues, and the races would go on pretty much all day. These days there is only one size of dragonboats and the races would be all finished before noon. This annual event is on a slow decline.Good thing I went to Tai O for the Dragonboat Festival, as this allowed me to closely observe and participate in the local celebration, which turns out to be one of the most important annual events of the Tai O community. This has given me some ideas on possible ways to revitalize the Dragonboat Festival by re-interpreting its meanings and significance.

More to follow. Meanwhile, enjoy a movie clip on how to board a dragonboat.

I expected a lot more hilarous remake of classic movies, but those clips were far too short (lasting only a second or two). I still like the movie.

At the end, the folks made a movie about Fats Waller (who has nothing to do with the local community). Legend was what the people made of it. How true.