Thursday, September 30, 2004

Too clearly, obviously

After my little rant about the campaigns, I was driving to lunch and thought, you know this is all because I watch too much of The Daily Show. I' m just too cynical about all this. But then, lo and behold, I switch on NPR (since Bay Area radio music SUCKS, NPR is about the only bearable thing on the air, even during the lunch hour) and Jon Stewart was being interviewed on Fresh Air. (I actually don't like Terry Gross too much so I'm glad someone was filling in for her and asking Stewart some interesting questions.)

In any case, here's a link to the archived interview. The entire interview is about 30 minutes, but if you don't have time for the entire thing, I think the first 15 minutes are quite worthwhile. Stewart gets into some insightful comments about the media and the role anchorpeople should play when it comes to political representatives and their "talking points". Stewart loves to play the smart-ass and he definitely does that when it asked about politicians, the press, and his show.

So anyways, Stewart's comments about all of this relate directly back to my previous post. Basically, he talks about how politicians take advantage of the loopholes and the weaknesses of the media. That's what they're supposed to be doing, afterall they run campaigns of persuasion. Stewart has problems with media-folk who don't take the opportunity to call these politicians (and their handlers) on their BS by asking questions about fact. Stwerat acknowledges that not everything needs to be a fact, but if people called into be interviewed are purporting to state facts, shouldn't the interviewer verify the veracity of these claims?

Moreover, Stewart makes a great point about the few media-folk who dare call into question the veracity of such statements. It's gotten to the point that when an anchorperson dares ask a 'devil's advocate' (or even-keeled) question to a guest, the guest gets mad and accuses the anchorperson of being an operative for the other side.

So this all comes back to the same thing. The whole circus is a charade where everyone wants to blur what's going on behind the hand-waving and curtain-pulling. Many in the public, I'm sure, can see right through it, but nobody paid to play the game cares to acknowledge that there's anything behind charade. Those who should be trying to pull back curtains and stop the hand-waving are in on the game as well.

Thus those of us who can imagine what's really going on back there can only laugh and become more cynical. Great stuff.

Can you see clearly now?

I've mentioned a few times that I closely follow the presidential campaigns. I'm not exactly sure why I follow them so closely. Perhaps it's the fact that these campaigns will give us insight into who to vote for in the coming election. More probably, it's the fact that both campaigns are so hollow and transparent that it's not even funny.

When there's a car wreck on the side of road I never slow down to gander. For some reason, however, I can't help myself when it comes to these campaigns.

What has been making me wonder lately is whether the bulk of the American public sees right through these campaigns. My friends certainly see through them. From various interviews I hear of random people, they also seem to see right through the hogwash.

So what gives? Are people just so used to the political nonsense that they stop and stare at the car wrecks at the roadside? Are people really engrossed by the statements that people from each campaign make? Are these folks unaware that every statement coming out of the campaigns is filled with more spin than fact?

Does anyone really think that Bush isn't a master debater? Does anyone think today's debate isn't a must-win for Kerry? Does anyone think the debate is more about substance than style? Well, according to the Bush campaign, Kerry has the upper hand in the debate since he's a champion debater. Yeah, right. And according the Kerry campaign, today's debate is important, but not the end-all-be-all for his campaign. Yeah, right. And according to various news outlets, people actually care about what is said during these debates, not how it's said. Yeah, right.

I suppose we're all in on this. We listen to the nonsense coming from all angles and act like we take it very seriously. Thus more similar nonsense comes our way and we can do nothing more than absorb it all in.

Here's to being politically active folks!

Monday, September 27, 2004

Fogging In


Since I live in the Bay Area, there's no way I can continue without showing one of my photos of the Golden Gate bridge. This was taken near Fort Point and has some digital enhancing done to it. I think the enhancing is rather obvious, but it might be more subtle to people not familiar with the shot. In any case, I added contrast to the rocks at the bottom of the frame. Sorry about the pixelation of the shot, it's the only copy I have on me at the moment. The actual shot hangs as an 8x10 in our house so it's clear enough to enlarge. Again, this shot was taken with a little point and shoot, and yes, both the camera and the photograpgher got a little damp during the process. Posted by Hello

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Subscription Music Services becoming more popular?

I've been enjoying Rhapsody since I first subscribed to it even though it's a pretty bare bones application. I've got a laundry list of complaints about the functionality & non-musical content provided. I had hoped Rhapsody would improve this pretty soon, but I think the may be forced to get moving now that several companies are coming out with their own subscription services. MusicMatch was bought recently by Yahoo for their subscription service, Yahoo is apparently working on integration of such services with their instant messaging client. That would definitely be a very cool thing. In the meantime, even more players are getting involved in the game. According to this NYTimes.com article many companies are gearing up for similar services. Hopefully this competition means that everyone will provide better and more useful functionality. Afterall, the music is a commodity, the differentiator will be the ease of use and the extras which are provided.

Monday, September 20, 2004

The Club


We have officially joined The Club. No, I'm not talking about some insider business scheme or anything so shady. We are now proud owners of a golden retriever puppy. And thus, we are now members of The Club. It's really amazing the conversations one strikes up when talking to other dog owners. People with whom you've never been able to say more than "What's up" now have a reason to chit chat. I've written before about pet ownership so I won't talk to that again. Let me just say that it's great having this little guy running around the house and it's truly amazing how fast they learn. Posted by Hello

Fruit Stand


Another random photo from my collection. This one was taken at a fruit stand near Serangoon Road in Singapore. Nothing to special about this, I just like the symmetry and the color.

I'm not sure why (maybe it's just the tropical nature of everything), but all of the pictures I've taken in Singapore seem to really pop. In more correct terms, they're oversaturated. Normally, you look to limit saturation, but nowadays, high saturated photos seems to draw a lot of attention just becuase they're so bright and vibrant. Once again, what is catchy is what get attention :) Posted by Hello

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Russian "Democracy"

Ok, let's take a moment to talk about something serious (as I occassionally try to do here). I'm keeping close track of the presidential campaigns going on here in the US, but the thing that's really worrying me the most is what's going on Russia right now.

Of course, there's the horrific events in Beslan which occured last week. There really is no excuse to take school children, teachers, or anyone hostage. But the reaction by Moscow was something, sadly, which I was expecting. When I first learned of the kidnapping, I didn't realize that so many people were being held. In some maddening part of my mind, I figured that Moscow would somehow screw this up and get some of the hostages killed. Of course, it turned out much worse: Over 350 people, over 150 of which were children, were killed in a crazy attempt to rescue the hostages.

Anyways, the fallout from all of this is nothing short of outrageous. As per usual, the Chechen rebels who took the hostages have been called international terrorists, by President Putin. This, of course, is simply an attempt at garnering favor with the rest of the world which is so concerned about terrorism. It's pretty clear that Russia's terrorist problem with Chechnya is wholly different from whatever threat Al-Queda and the like pose.

Moreover, Putin's response to this is to further lock down his control over the nation. I dare say he's a president in name only, because everything he does is designed to enhance his dictatorial control over the country. A month or two ago it was his actions with Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer, that stank of dictatorship. Now, it's this crazy plan to limit electoral choices. It proposes that elections should be for parties, rather than candidates and that regional governors would be appointed by Moscow rather than elected by constituents.

Huh?!

This stinks of iron-fisted dictatorship. Or at least Putin's attempts to maintain complete and utter control over the nation. Anti-terrorism? Gawd. From what I've read, Russia's intelligence has absolutely no clue about the activities of various Chechen rebels. None of this fiddling with the pittance of demoracy which Russians "enjoy" is going to help fighting terrorism. Sure, they're throwing some money at security agencies, but until Putin decides to give real democracy a chance, this problem is not going to go away. It will simply get worse.

Apparently, Colin Powell has expressed "concern" over these turn of events, but I'm afraid nobody is going to do anything to stop Putin and his moves to clamp down the country in his fist. Russia is teetering on Failed State status (or perhaps it has already fallen to that level), but the country's place in the UN and the USSR's legacy will ensure that nobody takes effective action against this insanity.

This is truly sad, and unforuntately, I don't think anything can be done (given the realities of the world we live in) to slow this march away from democracy.

That said, I'll calm down. You can go on with your web surfing now :)

Monday, September 13, 2004

Lost in Thought


I don't normally put photos of family and friends on open sites, but this is the one exception I've always had. I took this shot in 2000 on a train headed towards Delhi. Just as a reminder to everyone who looks for the latest and greatest advanced digital camera...this shot was taken with an $80 film camera with no zoom. Yes, I know this shot is far from perfect, but when I look at it, I can't help but wonder what my cousin is thinking...I'm absorbed in the moment, not in the technical perfection. I think that's a sign of a good shot...one that takes your thoughts to a different place, to when and where the shot was taken. Even if you didn't take the picture or don't know the people in the frame, if a shot can do this, then that's a sign of a good shot. At least that my take :) Posted by Hello

Friday, September 10, 2004

Sunset at the Taj


In my last post I mentioned that I'm going to post some of my photos. So this is the first. It's actually the first photo which I took that I was proud to display.

So this is the sunset at Agra, just outside of the Taj Mahal, taken in February, 2000. The towers you see aren't the Taj, but towers on the wall surrounding the grounds. I'd have to say that this silhouette is more dumb luck than my photography skill. This shot comes down to metering mode and exposing for the sunset rather than the foreground. At least that's what I read in a photography tips book the day before taking this :) So I gave it a try and look what I got!

Posted by Hello <--- By the way, this little logo is for Hello, a photo application from Picasa. Google recently bought Picasa (and thereby Hello) and they've made it possible to post photos to Google's Blogger. Talk about synergies :) In any case, I would highly recommend Picasa for folks who are looking for an easy to use digital photo organizer. It can do some simple photo editing as well as web albums. They've done a good job at making it easy to use and really slick to look at. I feel like I'm using a Mac when I start it up. I'm still trying to figure out if I like Hello. Right now, it's just a way to upload my pics without using my own server space. Other than that, I'm not sure if I find it all that useful. Apparently you can chat and swap photos with other users through Hello, just like an IM client, but I don't have anyone else signed up to swap with :)

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Snap Away

So I just realized that I've never mentioned the fact that I'm an avid photographer. I don't make any money at it, but I'm always the guy taking the pictures, but rarely found in them. While I love photography, I don't spend nearly enough time taking pictures. My regular workday allows me to be lazy about it and give me excuses for not practicing. The interesting thing is that all day long, I'm catching things while I walk around which would be great to photograph. While it's generally inappropriate to take photos in the office, I'm sure I could bring a point-and-shoot with me everyday to capture daily moments outside of the office. But I don't. Lazy me.

So anyways, friends and family seem to think I'm a great photographer. Of course, I know better :) My aforementioned lack of practice means that I'm really hit-or-miss on my photography. Generally, however, people are quite impressed with photos of mine where I've simply filled the frame with the subject - a group of friends, the Eiffel Tower, whatever. You'd be surprised at how much more impressive photographs are when the subject is recognizable rather than just a spec in the distance.

This past weekend, I was finally able to parlay my photo habit into practice for an environment that I'm not accustomed to: A large party. My dad's friend recently turned 50 and his family held a surprise birthday party for. They asked me to photograph the event and I happily obliged commenting that my gift to uncle would be a nice scrapbook through which the family can remember the night. I generally don't like to impose at such events since a hired photographer may be on hand, and usually, there are dozens of other cameras on hand anyways. But Sunday night I got to walk around and get in people's way just to get a shot of the most interesting thing I notice.

Overall, I'd say I had fun and I learned a lot. First off, I had a new flash and I was learning its wrinkles as the night progressed. Something which you should never do is buy a brand new camera (or anything else) just before you need it. Since I have a digital camera I was able to quickly learn some things and apply them as the night progressed, but I definitely wished I had some extra time beforehand to get used to the flash. Lesson number one: Get used to your camera and how it works before you leave for that big vacation.

The most fun of the night was capturing the candid moments. Auntie hugging uncle while she cried from her happiness. The birthday "boy" laughing at a joke. It's really those moments which help you to remember these times. Posed shots are nice to throw in an album, but the laughs, the hugs, the quiet moments...those are what bring back the memories. There's actually a genre of wedding photojournalism which aims to capture these moments. If you've ever seen any wedding albums by a photojournalist, you will no doubt be left with memories of being there...or wishing you were there.

That said, if you're in need of a good wedding photojournalist...don't call me :) Here's a link to an acquaintence's website whom you can call on for all your photographic needs. Here's his blog as well.

So now that I've finally talked a bit about my photography habit, I'll try to post some of the images that have capture my mind. I've posted a few linked pics from around the web, but I'll actually post some of my own shots. The only challenge is finding photos that don't include the people that I know. Even though I bank online and shop online, I avoid placing photos of friends and loved ones on open sites like this one. Come back for more pics soon.