I knew the actress looks familiar when I watched Finding Mr. Right on Netflix tonight. It was none other than Tang Wei. I watched Lust, Caution back in 2007, right after I joined a bank – my current employer. Also roughly the year I met April whom I have met once again tonight through a bank event.
What a coincidence.
Find Mr. Right is an amazing Chinese movie inspired by I supposed Sleepless in Seatle. But it’s way better.
What a great movie. Such chemistry.
A Chinese mistress who has decided to give birth to her son in the US – because she couldn’t have done so in China – fell in love with her driver who is a divorcee with a daughter. What a great recipe for a story. I was genuinely moved. Tang Wei is such a great actress. She doesn’t age at all. She is timeless.
Back to this evening. I have attended yet another event organized by my bank. Yet another talk on recession and rising interest rates. I didn’t manage to meet my relationship manager. But I am thankful for yet another nice meal at a hotel.
If I am to sum up the evening, it is about reducing expenses and grow income.
Motherhood statement eh?
Back to April, as it turns out, she recognized me before I do. She prides herself on having a “face recognition” ability. I don’t dispute that. I am terrible at recognizing faces or names.
April arrived late. And immediately upon being seated, she struck up a conversation with me. 15 years I have been with this bank, she brought back all the fond memories and the painful ones. Not exactly remember what she did. But I do remember her being in her black dresses.
But hey, we age. Though she said I didn’t.
Cosmetic.
In the end, memories keep flooding in. Yes, I do remember.
We made fun of April. She does have a sister called May, doesn’t she?! In fact, I remember she has two sisters. April, May, June …
Let’s talk about some of the “longer” videos I have watched on YouTube of late.
Ironically, while I am a YouTube content creator who tends to live stream and create rather long videos of more than an hour each, I seldom spend the same amount of time watching YouTube videos. I could argue that if I do, I would have no time to create content.
YouTube video title: AIMI KOBAYASHI – final round (18th Chopin Competition, Warsaw)
I have watched the 45 minutes long video of a Chopin Competition on YouTube. It was a Concerto in E minor, Op. 11. To be frank, I am more familiar with Beethoven and Mozart. I enjoy listening to a piano concerto – or violin concerto for that matter. But my head just doesn’t seem to be able to wrap around Chopin.
Aimi Kobayashi is a Japanese pianist with a small frame. I observed that perhaps as a ritual, she would arrange her pendant at the beginning of each movement. To ensure that the musical note was facing the front. She has this very intense look while playing the piano. Almost uncomfortable to watch. I felt as though my face cringed watching her playing the piano. Chopin doesn’t talk to me. Listening to his music through Aimi, Op. 11 must have been a very painful piece of music.
I can’t really tell how great the performance was. Reading some of the comments, Aimi has taken the liberty to slow down the music and interpret it the way she wanted to tell her story (slow pain, perhaps). Some commented that this must have put her in the fourth position rather than higher. Again, I am no expert. I was used to having different Swan Lake CDs and each has its own pace. She must have had such high confidence whereby she didn’t even need the musical scores in front of her. That was the very first thing I noticed when she sat in front of the piano, even before she performed. I often visualize myself in the performer’s shoes when I watch a live recording.
Another video I watched was titled “Russell Peters | Notorious Full Special” (70 mins). It was recorded in Australia in 2013 in front of 14,000 fans. What a huge turnout! These days, I love standup comedies. These comedians have special skills. Some like Russell Peters are able to interact with the crowd and crack jokes on the fly.
But that’s not what I am trying to say in this post. In that video, Russell made some jokes about tattoos (and how people would regret having them). This evening, it was raining. Not too heavy to the point whereby I couldn’t go out. But it wasn’t too light either. Yet, I saw many people walking outdoors without umbrellas.
When I arrived at the nearest food center, I ordered QQ la mien set that came with four dumplings and a small bowl of soup. Somehow, on a rainy day, I craved that.
Opposite me was a Chinese man of a very large size. His thigh was as big if not bigger than my waist. He wore no expression eating his chicken chop and chips quietly. Underneath his right forearm, there were very large English words saying “Good Boy”. I recalled Russell Peters’s video on tattoos and I was quietly giggling inside. As I was wondering why a Chinese man of his size would tattoo “Good Boy” on his arm, I saw more English words on his left forearm. I couldn’t see very clearly at first. But I could guess that must be “Bad Boy”.
What a bizarre pair of tattoos. Maybe he is forever torn between good and evil.
Shortly after I have started eating my dinner, I saw this girl who worked at the stall nearby. She was also of a larger frame compared to her other colleague although nothing compared to Good-boy-bad-boy. She kept on hitting his arm hard. I mean, that looked like real punches. Good-boy-bad-boy was emotionlessly still. The girl seemed to be playful with him. Hitting him. Touching his phone (he was watching something I would presume). They could be …
Siblings?
And then I recalled, this Good-boy-bad-boy is actually the chef at the mixed rice stall! I vividly remember how impressed I was when I saw him cook the dishes. When I cook Chinese dishes, I cook for 1 or 2 potions. When he cooks, he cooks for I reckon 50 to 100 potions at a time. That is some mad skill and strength. He did it with such dexterity and speed. It was fun to watch.
Looking back, I don’t think that they are siblings. Maybe the girl likes to bully him. Maybe he is a teddy bear at heart despite his size and his good-boy-bad-boy tattoos.
Okay. Let’s keep it short and sweet. Jabra Elite 75t is no march to Apple Airpods Pro Gen 2, except perhaps the fitting. We shall get there in a bit. Also, do note that these two earbuds are one generation apart, with Apple’s being the latest.
What an upgrade from Jabra to Apple.
First and foremost, my earbuds should allow me to make phone calls. Jabra is terrible. My voice is always too soft. Without ANC for my mic, it is impossible to use Jabra when I’m outside.
I am an audiophile. I would say that Airpods has better clarity. But Jabra has better bass and fuller sound, albeit a bit muffled. It is down to personal preference I would say. Also, Airpods by default switch on ANC. Jabra has to do it every time you put on your earbuds.
What is good about my Jabra is the fitting. It sits very nicely in my ears. I can’t say the same with my Airpods. It fell off my ear once. I have tried out the default medium tips. They have passed the fitting test. I have also tried out the large tips. They have also passed the fitting test. For a better result, I need to clean my ear with tissue paper prior to wearing my Airpods so that they won’t come loose. That is not very environmentally friendly.
I suppose in life, you just can’t have everything.
These days, I have read more and more reports on how premium smartphones could replace some DSLR or mirrorless cameras. So I have taken my brand new iPhone for a test against my Nikon mirrorless camera today in my neighborhood of Tiong Bahru.
Before we start, this is not a lens contest. But instead, I focus on the results. It is the ease of shooting with a smartphone versus the traditional photo processing of a DSLR or mirrorless camera. In this test, with my iPhone, I shoot in HEIC format and edit the photos directly on the phone. I don’t have an application that can edit Apple’s ProRAW format so I leave it to the phone to do its magic.
As for my Nikon Z6, I am using a 35mm lens. I shoot in raw format and edit the photos using DxO Photolab 2.4. It is my usual editing style using only digital filters. The Nikon’s JPG export photos are compressed (80% quality) to keep the size comparable to Apple’s HEIC photos. The results are as follows.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro MaxNikon Z6Apple iPhone 14 Pro MaxNikon Z6Apple iPhone 14 Pro MaxNikon Z6
After thoughts:
Because iPhone 14 Pro Max’s main camera has a wider lens than my Nikon’s – 24mm versus 35mm – photo composition is going to be different. The results from iPhone are of course heavily processed with the benefit of HDR among other Apple proprietary algorithms. This may make some of the photos ‘pop’ more compared to a traditional camera. My Nikon prime lens obviously has better sharpness, which you can only tell the difference when you zoom in. I still prefer the processed photos from my Nikon Z6. But with the convenience of a smartphone, both in photo shooting and editing, the results from my iPhone are decent.
In short, if I am going for a nice holiday, I would certainly bring my Nikon Z6. As for my day-to-day needs, my iPhone should suffice.
When iPhone pro series first announced, I followed some of the influencers on YouTube wanting to hear their views. After all they are the Apple “experts”. To my horror, some would suggest turning off always on feature because … they can’t tell if they have locked the phone?! That’s the strangest thing I have seen, coming from Android whereby the premium phones have this feature years ago.
I like always on. I can tell the time and see the notifications without tapping onto the screen. What’s not to like? Just that Apple’s implementation is quite different from say Samsung’s. It seems less minimalistic and more elaborate. I have no idea how Apple manage to find the extra battery to power the always on display. I certainly prefer it on.
Testing the iPhone 14 pro max x3 camera.
Prior to getting my hands on with the phone, I was rather intrigued by “dynamic island”. In reality though, I don’t find dynamic island in any of the iPhone setting. I hardly interact with it and very few occasions I see it in action. Spotify and WhatsApp calls. That’s about it.
I do like iPhone speakers though. How do they make it so good?
As someone who has used Android phones for 12 years, switching to iOS is quite an experienced. iPhone as an hardware is pretty expensive compared to Android phones. But as I’ve mentioned in my previous post, Android comes with its baggage. Cost aside, how do you put a price tag on a photo like the one below?
Bailey loves attentions.
Once DHL Express dropped the new iPhone to my doorstep, I visited the nearest authorised Apple Store to install a screen protector. I have already ordered a case from Casetify a while back. I am ready for action!
The initial set up is easy. Reinstalling apps is also straightforward. The painful part is to log into all the apps with different user ids passwords. Some apps I couldn’t remember the user ids as it could be my email address or my mobile number or even Google id. Someone smart would need to think of a way to solve this ’world’ problem.
After all the hassles, when I finally got my new phone to a MVP, I discovered that WhatsApp doesn’t readily share the Android backup with Apple’s! I have to reset my new phone and use the Move to iOS app to migrate the chat. At that point, I’ve decided to just forgo what I had and start anew. WhatsApp may one day shutdown. It is better to be less reliance on these free services.
It takes me a while to get used to how iOS works. Swiping seems intuitive and I think in due course, I will get the hang of it. I can’t wait to do some camera testing and that’s the story for another day! Stay tuned.
PS. What’s up with the double spacing that I have to manually delete while writing this post on my iPhone?! It is either the Apple default keyboard or Safari browser or both.
For 12 years I have been an Android user. Who would have known that my very first Apple product purchase is an iPhone 14 pro max? Here is a little story of my migration from Android to iOS.
Illustration by hitandrun.
Let’s get right to the point. Despite all the innovations Android and the hardware companies have over the years, despite all the years of denial, Apple simply makes better products. The followings are the specifics after 12 years of using Android products.
Android OS is fragmented, leaving manufacturers to update their custom OS. I have a 5-year-old Samsung S3 tablet. Samsung stopped updating the OS 2 years ago. Without security patches, would I feel safe using the perfectly fine albeit slower tablet? Err no. I have a work phone, a 4-year-old iPhone 8 provided by my company. Till today, Apple still patches the phone’s OS. I feel reassured.
Google phones in recent years are just not that good. To experience pure Android OS, you need a Google phone. My first Google phone was an LG Nexus 4. It was a great phone. Google has a few great phones post-Nexus 4. But Google has no interest in markets outside the US. I was able to purchase a Nexus 4 using a fake US address (the things we do to get a Google product). Google closed the loop for Nexus 5. Pixel 5 wasn’t even available here in Singapore. As for Pixel 6, with that fingerprint scanner fiasco plus other issues, I ain’t gonna get a Google phone in near future.
Android hardware doesn’t last. My Samsung A series lasted just over 1 year. The screen was dead. It isn’t covered by the warranty and repairing it may as well get another midrange Samsung phone. Prior to that, it was a Note phone. My household had two. Both died after 2 to 3 years. Both screens died in the end.
Unlike Apple, Google really doesn’t care about the markets outside the US. I got to experience Google Music when I had my Nexus 4 purchased using a fake US address. Once they closed the loop, they cut me off from Google Music because I am from Singapore. We can’t buy Pixel 5. Although Pixel 6 eventually arrived in Singapore, the cool color combos are not available. I don’t have to put up with this level of discrimination when using Apple products.
Google products including Android are the worst offender when it comes to user privacy. It is a conflict of interest really. Google’s advertisement revenue comes directly from our personal information and browsing history.
You may say top-of-the-line Apple vs Google vs Samsung cameras are very closely matched. But looking at the day-to-day photos from all sources, consistently, Apple users take better photos. What gives?
I was used to thinking that Apple products are too expensive compared to Android. But with hardware that doesn’t last and OS that doesn’t get patched after a set number of years, Apple’s price tag is justified.
As subjective as this may sound, Apple’s design is beautiful.
I am a gamer at heart. When I was a young boy – early teen – my dad got me into video gaming. For more than three decades, I have never looked back. I played so many video games that I initially created my own YouTube channel as a social experiment. But it turns out to be a hobby. My creative outlet. A unique way to connect with like-minded people.
Inevitably, some would ask, if I would have to create a video game, what would that be?
Before I answer that question, I would like to share with you a design philosophy behind a game called Risk of Rain. It goes something like …
Design a game that is randomly generated every play-through, to keep replayability high and fresh.
Time = difficulty. The higher the in-game time gets, the harder the difficulty gets. Keeping a sense of urgency keeps the game exciting!
Be enjoyable, regardless of whether you win or lose. No more fussing with complex and non-intuitive gameplay patterns. Players should not blame the game for their loss!
Personally, I thought it was really cool, pretty close to what I would envisage the design of my own game be.
Having said that, I would take it further.
The graphic doesn’t define a game. Game-play does.
There has to be an element of randomness. Better still, user-created content.
It has got to be easy to pick up, and challenging to master. Way too many games that have no depth or a few rare gems that are challenging to master, but way too difficult to pick up. We are humans. Most give up easily.
Sandbox or a good degree of freedom to achieve user-defined goals is important. Being too prescriptive can be perceived as linear. Life is a journey. Let gamers play the game they enjoy playing.
There should be a good balance of quick wins versus time-invested rewards. We love it rough. But not all the time. There must be an alternative path to the same goal.
Revival is key. Stagnancy is the culprit of a game on the decline. Fresh content. Change of meta. People need to keep playing, for good reason.
Lately, I have watched a good number of Chinese TV dramas. While I enjoy the shows – more because of my Chinese background and I can relate better – most of them tend to be too lengthy.
Take Eternal Love (2020) as an example. 58 episodes equate to 58 hours of entertainment. I reckon a number of subplots could easily be edited out into perhaps 30 episodes (or made optional maybe… imagine a future of TV viewing whereby viewers get to define how concise the show they wish to watch).
The leading actress Yang Mi is amazing in terms of acting.
All in all, story writing is top-notch. Chinese TV dramas are prone to plot flaws or plot holes. This love story spans over “three” lifetimes by and large makes sense. For those who are familiar with Chinese fantasy such as the path to immortality, the trials that entail, cultivation and essence, etc., Eternal Love is authentic.
The real gems of this TV drama are the leading actor and actress Mark Chao and Yang Mi. Their onscreen chemistry is believable. Yang Mi is such an elegant actress. Every bit of her acting I can see was carefully orchestrated. I look forward to their scenes, which is where the problem lies. The rest of the scenes are just not as good. Most of the supporting actors are just not as good. Hence my first observation, this TV drama is too lengthy.
Another flaw I would like to call out though is that the women of this TV drama are not well represented in today’s world. Men are too dominating. Most if not all the battles are won by men. Women are either hopelessly not as useful or purely wicked. In today’s standard, I am finding it hard to relate. Most of the time, I would just sigh or facepalm.
Also, if I were the scriptwriter, I may have wrapped up the story in a more grand and triumphant way, one that is worthy of 58 episodes of wait. Then again, I am not.
And why ain’t there more Yang Mi’s work on Netflix or Viu? That is disappointing.
More than 6,000 hours and US$1,000 I have spent playing World of Warcraft, I quit playing the game 10 years ago. It was 18 years ago when I dived into this MMORPG with my buddy Mark. Holland Village I recalled when Mark passed me a physical copy of the game, one that was extremely hard to get our hands on given the popularity of the game back then. Countless memorable encounters in-game, fond memories of real life, and painful memories as well. Time lost that cannot be recovered, money aside. Regrets. No regret. Songs of my youth. Of real-life stupidity. Of virtual heroism. Those who were concerned were sad when I was at it, relieved when I was out of it. Others, we banded together in-game and into the fantasy. And to what purpose? You either get it or you don’t.
Cataclysm
The fourth expansion of the game is titled Cataclysm. It was a controversial title. I love it. Many don’t. I adore the stories of dragons or the lore, period. I was thankful that as a casual player (who spent a lot of time playing nonetheless), I was able to raid (through the then-new feature looking for raid). I had a lot of fun playing Deathwing raids week after week, toons after toons. I had a closed circle of companions, all with common goals, daily quests, weekly quests, we helped each other, we counted on each other, and we made history together.
The Decline
The fifth expansion Mist of Pandaria introduced a new race – a panda that is kind of cute – and a new Monk class that I didn’t quite get it. The seventh expansion introduced a new hero class Demon Hunter. Frankly speaking, I just wasn’t able to get into it.
It was the story. To the point whereby, I didn’t really care. Cataclysm was heading in the right direction. Thrall was the hero who brought together Horde and Alliance alike for a common goal, to align with the dragon Aspects in defeating Deathwing. But Thrall being a Horde, the storyline displeased the Alliance fans. Thereafter, the Horde and Alliance are back to war with Horde heroes being eliminated one after another. Blizzard was trying too hard to make everyone happy.
That pisses me off.
Here Comes Dragonflight
The new expansion comes with a new race and a new class.
The upcoming tenth expansion Dragonflight got my attention. It is back to my favorite story arc – the dragons. I would get to play as a Dracthyr, a new race. On top of that, exclusive to Dracthyr race is a new class called Evoker, a caster.
To be honest, hearing just that may be what I need to be back in the World of Warcraft.
