Damages - Best TV Series I have seen lately

It's actually more like "The Devil Wears Prada" - law edition. Glenn Close is impeccable as Patty Hewes, the devilishly manipulative lawyer boss. (She is such a character!!!) Rose Byrne is the innocent associate (poor tortured soul, but I still think she will become a new Patty, in her own way). Close's portrait of this powerful lawyer teaches me so many things about body languages and persuasions.

Attack of the Cat

I am having a lot of fun taking videos of Mitti using my smart phone. (It is my "best buy of 2011".) Now I seriously consider buying an entry-level DSLR with video feature (such as Nikon D5100). Or, should I wait for the D800 instead?

The Cat Who Enjoys Sun Bath

Mitti

Mitti likes to sit under the afternoon sun and the lighting is almost transformative. She looks pensive, thoughtful, instead of her funny looking usual self.

Miti Rubbing Chinchih's Shoes

For some reason, Miti was quite crazy about Chinchih's shoes. Every time she came to visit us, Mitty would "anoint" her things. It looks pretty funny.

Best Site to See Good Presentations - TED

Lately my work involved doing demos and presentations so I started paying attention on improving my presentation skills. Books such as "Presentation Zen", "Slide:ology", and "Resonate" helped a lot, but I found they were like "theories". You could learn from theories but it would still be hard to grasp if you didn't see a concrete example. (I know, that's why I am a software engineer who totally failed her college Physics classes.) And where to find the best presentations online? TED.

I found TED speakers were incredibly good presenters. Their talks spanned about 3 to 20 minutes, but short or long, they were all engaging and enjoyable. The topics were fascinating. The speakers were passionate, with wonderful stories to tell, and told them well. They used slides or videos, sometimes a lot of them, but their uses of presentation tools never overpowered the talks. From watching many of those videos, I came up with two conclusions. One, being passionate about your topic is highly infectious, its importance cannot be emphasized enough. Two, find out the most important thing you want your audience to remember and focus on it. Because if your audience can remember just ONE thing after the talk, it's worth it.

Born Again Software Developer?

Lately I had a job change. There are a lot of learning in the new job. To my surprise, I faced all the challenges with unprecedented enthusiasm. (I have to admit sometimes things can be really tough and I just want to scream.) I told myself to treat my software engineer career like a second career, I would have a lot of fun. Then it just occurred to me: if there is something called a born again Christian, am I now a born again software developer?

P.S. I have to tell myself not to keep pushing over the limit of healthy exertion. After all, I don't want to become a "to be born again"(a.k.a. "dead", if you consider reincarnation) software developer.

Freud + Jung + Chronenberg + Knightley = Sold

David Chronenberg's new movie looks pretty intriguing. Who can resist it when it has Keira Knightly with Freud and Jung thrown in.

No way back from going MP3

I was shocked to discover the MP3 album of Robert Shaw's Carmina Burana on Amazon was only $3.69. The Telarc CD cost me a fortune when I bought it in college! (Shaw is an excellent conductor for choir work and the recording is superb.) The price is a steal. Oh, also for below $4 you can get the complete Tosca (yes the Callas one), 3 CDs. (I was not too interested in opera, but now, with the price, why not!) Sigh, it doesn't look like I may be back from going MP3 any more...

Coolest Cell Playing

People who don't like modern music should skip this.

What to do when an artist lost her paints

I love the way her work combines art, craftsmanship, and high tech (and how it interacts with the environment). Really wonderful.

Thought on Buying MP3s

I am probably one of those dinosaurs who still buy classical music CDs. However, lately I found I bought more and more MP3s. Why? Well, no place to shop is one reason (I miss Tower Record). The other is there are more and more choices for MP3s now. I found I would get MP3s if

- it is harpsichord (perfect for MP3 recording)
- it is historical recording (recording quality is bad already, no need to get CD)
- it's period instruments (for period instruments before 19th century, no need to get CD)
- it's performed by someone I hadn't heard of (I discovered many good performers this way)
- it's experimental music (most of my Philip Glass collection stays in MP3 forever)
- it's vocal work (human voice doesn't need much bandwidth)
- it's free (duh)

I will get CDs if
- it's Symphony, especially if it's a Mahler Symphony
- I know I will lend it to somebody

Judging from the list, I wonder if soon the day will come that I don't buy any CDs any more. I shudder when I think about it.

Moon - Best Sci-Fi Movie I Had Seen Lately

Most of the sci-fi movies I had seen lately was quite disappointing. This low budget (5M) movie was surprisingly good. (And I really think they should develop a computer voice based on Kevin Spacy's Gerty.)

Funny now they think Amazon tablet may hurt iPad2

I think analysts are crazy. When iPad were out, they predicted it would kill Kindle, totally ignorant of the fact that people using these devices differently. (In fact, iPad killed more laptops than Kindles.) Now, probably because iPad didn't kill Kindle, they start to guess if the "new" Amazon tablet will hurt iPad2. (Who knows what the "new" Amazon tablet is!)

OK, now let me play with crystal balls too. (Why not!) My prediction is, it will be a different device. Less a general tablet, but specialized on streaming and other cloud services. It will integrate Amazon's video streaming and cloud music really well. Oh, and free 4G network download for streaming too. Frankly speaking I don't know if that will be what Amazon will do, but for some reason Mr. Bezos seems to be good at predicting what I want so let's see how my prediction goes later this year.

P.S. one thing is for sure, there are already two customers for the Amazon tablet, me and my best friend Chinchih.

Object of Desire

One thing is for sure once you are into photography: there is no limitation on what equipments you can buy. Already got a D3X, it's too heavy, maybe I need a lighter camera. Got a compact? The image quality is not good enough, maybe I should get a D7000. Should I get the new 21mm Zeiss lense, or the 100mm macro instead?
Lately I have had a craving for the new Fuji X100. It has a Leica like look and is able to produce high quality images. Lloyd Chambers recommended it and bought one. I can see how I can use it. Should I get one too? My rational mind told myself that would be a very expensive toy since I didn't do much photography lately, but my desire argued that made it the perfect thing to buy to rekindle my passion in photography. Sigh, to buy or not to buy, that is the question.