The wait is worthwhile.. the 3rd generation of H1 is here (almost) and it's mouth watering... Just looking at the specs will make me drool at night... here's the list of WOW factor for the H9

8.1 mp 1/2.5" CCD - that's a lot of mp on a very small sensor.. I hope this is the 2nd generation of Sony high ISO sensors that will work better than the one found in the 1st generation (H5 and W100 etc)

15x optical zoom (31 mm to 465 mm equivalent) - That's wider and longer than my H1 (imagine it with my 0.7 and 1.7 converters). And it's Carl Zeiss optics.. world class leading company

up to ISO3200 - My H1 stops at ISO400, my alpha at ISO1600 and H9 supports up to ISO3200!! I'm skeptical about the image quality at ISO3200 but if it turns out decent ISO800 pictures.. that will rule given the amazingly versatile lens

Shutter speed - 30" - 1/4000, that's 1 stop faster than H1 could offer and 2 stops faster in manual mode... suitable for BIF too because...

Continuous shooting - 100 8mp pics at 2.2 fps!!!! My alpha manages 3 fps at 10mp with unlimited shooting. But 100 pics at 2.2 fps is not far away!!! Good for trying BIF too and the lens is fast too at f4.5 (though slower than f3.7 of H1 but it zooms more and better high ISO will more than make up for the difference)

3.0" 235 000 pixels tilt lcd screen - yes!!! Step aside Canon because tilt screen is here on H9 with its ultra large tilt screen of high quality (and very visible in sunlight).

Nightshot mode - I almost went for the now ancient Cybershot V3 just for its nightshot mode with that cool laser hologram focusing ability means that you could shoot sharp pictures even at night. And it's back with a vengeance on what must be the flagship cybershot H9

The money part is, it is priced agressively at 480 USD or about 750 SGD (maybe higher locally) but its the price of a good fast lens for my dSLR. I shall wait (if i can) till it comes out (in April 07) for 1/2 a year (Year end sale) before buying one (so i get loads of freebies from Sony too).

Wow, what's not to like in this new H9...

Now to see if the image quality lives up to the H series reputation given this new lens and if the SSS of sony improved since this could be the 3rd generation SSS for Sony too.

Camera Banter... I'm loving it

I shall start this mini rant with some photos from Sentosa last week...


Orange H1 Flowers


Pink H1 Flowers


Peach H1 Flowers


Hanging Gardens of Alpha


Panorama



Nice day out at the beach but totally packed with people...

In short, my rant is - it is complicated to buy a flat! Just that we seldom buy a new flat once every five years doesn't mean you have to make the process so confusing!

Okay.. done...

Big questions

WHERE? WHEN? WHAT type? WHAT size? HOW much?

singapore sentosa flower photoblog sony a100 alpha dsc h1

SJAB CNY Dinner 2007

Because I just received 2 letters. One takes my money (income tax returns), the other takes my life literally at a rate of a couple of weeks a year (posting to NS unit). Ah man... A man gotta do what a man gotta do. If I can survive 2.5 years of full-time service, I can take 10 years of part-time service. But the shitty thing is, on black and white, I can't be deferred even when I take on my part-time Masters program in July! (Unless if it falls in the exam period but only 1 deferment allowed a year even though we have 2 exams per year?!)

Given that a school term in NUS lasts only 13 weeks, to miss 3 weeks of lessons due to ICT means to miss about a quarter of the lesson. That's so idiotic! Isn't it? This is so bad for research because when things are going smooth, 3 weeks could mean a paper and/or a patent churned out. Yet one more reason for males to do research studies overseas.

No wonder Singaporean males feel that they are 2nd class citizens because they put in so much for the country yet they don't get the benefits (except for a puny tax relief etc).

Grumble Grumble

Anyway, enjoy the photos taken yesterday night... Grrrrrr...

That is a one line verdict I would give to Jack Neo's latest flick. Just follow law is the latest movie to 'reflect' Singaporean life because this formula seem to work for Jack Neo in the past since Money No Enough days. But the low class comedy wasted a potentially good plot.

Spoiler Alert! Do not read any further if you intend to watch this movie in the future

First of all, the jokes were simply crude. Reference to sex, upskirts, breast grabbing (in 2 occasions), peeing (2 occasions), ugly makeup ala Ru Hua style, girl in ugly pose (uncountable times) are just some ways Jack Neo tries to inject humour to the not-so-brand-new guy and girl swapped soul type of storyline.

There were scenes which were supposed to be touching but it failed to connect because it was badly executed. For excample, there was this scene where the actress was getting in touch with her feelings towards her mother but it was preceded by an in-your-face type of mockery towards the drink cans collecting phenomenon in Singapore. In his attempt to combine humour, reflection of our society and a touching scene, he managed to achieve none.

The big job fair was supposed to be the apex of the movie but it was spoilt with Jack Neo's attempts to insert a joke once every 5 minutes of the movie. Just when Gurmit Singh and Fann Wong were faced with many hiccups before the VIP came to the fair, the director felt it was important to insert a funny but meaningless dance to break the momentum in the finale. So there I was, reminded once every 5 minutes that a potentially good script was tarnished with kiasuism in mixing everything. A typical Singapore rojak.

A great director will know when to inject humour and when to be serious in a movie. Mixing and matching both throughout a film like "Just Follow Law" simply don't work for me. Especially if it's LC humour.

P.S. Don't get me started on the 90s computer graphics used in explosion and fire scenes. I'm not going to classify it under action, it's that fake.

Not many keepers considering that I kept bursting shots during the concert itself. Its so difficult to frame moving objects especially when you do not know exactly what will happen. Would definitely need to rehearse first if need to take better photographs during events so I can anticipate and think of how to frame my shots. Anyway.. here's some 20 over photos from yesterday. More to come for sure...


Coming first, my forte - Kids photos... plenty of practice with xiaobudian and yuxin makes better photographs here.




Next, the young ladies of year 5s... unlike guys who turned away from cameras, girls would pose for you... yeah...

Finally, almost all the cast of teacher's performance during the CNY concert less me of course...

Fairy god-mother and narrator 1 (narrator 2, Mr Soh is not in pic)


Ms Director and Ms Racequeen

The 12 zodiac animals less me and Ms Goat

Spotted this from HP website while trying to convince myself to buy/not buy a new printer given that my old HP Deskjet 930C lasted for an eternity already. (More than 6 years)

A video to compare HP printers with fuel efficient cars and how competitors are wasting your money.

Just came back home from relatives visiting...

Visit relatives in 3 days - checked
Go Sentosa - checked
Play Mahjong - Could play longer
Lesson preparation - not done
Marking - checked
Slack - double checked
Gaining weight - checked, checked and checked

I wished my CNY holidays were a lot longer than 3 days.

For those who came to my house today, here's a photoslideshow.



4K 2006 CNY 2007

As usual, fullsize photos available @ webshots

Many first this year making it so different. First year my sister is giving me ang pao, first year that we have a kid running around in the house in new year and the first year that I didn't play mahjong (for more than 3 hours) given that this is already the 2nd day already. (Sigh... had to let younger cousins have a go right)

Decided against bringing my alpha along to relative house so don't have any new year photos to load so just be happy with some kiddy photos taken few weeks back.


Kids just want to have fun


Ball ball...


Sweet look...



Bicycle fun...


Grandparent


Sparklers and bubbles

Pearl of Wisdom

Soft toys and kids goes together very well...

The past 2 weeks student DJs had been politically very correct about Valentine's Friendship day. So in order to follow suit, here's some politically very correct photos of this special occasion. (And no, I don't have any politically incorrect photos of this occasion anyway)


Sale of items associated with V Friendship day


Make your own gift


Or just simply paint 'em


Show 'em off


Being with your friends (Been reading xh's blog.. seems like my ex-physics rep remembers my "words of wisdoms"... so happy! lol...)


Celebrating friendship

And a very happy lunar new year. Time for reunion dinner for many now... Welcome pig year!

As for my pearl of wisdom

休息是为了走更长远的路

I would gladly wager my ang pao money this year that everybody who comes to this site and read the articles here have taken some forms of assessment in tests or exams. In ancient China, assessment was mainly a tool to select “capable” individuals to serve in the imperial court. Today, assessment comes in all shapes and sizes, or in physics terms, all wavelengths and frequencies. (just kidding).

In the academic world, i.e. the nutty professors, assessment is divided into summative assessment (those end of year examinations and tests) typically used to assigned a grade and formative assessment (assignment worksheets and informal quizzes) usually to help in learning. And Singaporeans are obsessed with the former due to extreme kiasuism, just like Japan, Hong Kong and other fast paced societies.

Today’s rant is on summative assessment, or tests for grades.

Summative assessment mode is important in today’s society. It is how we decide if you can drive, certify us as a trained teacher or as a proof that we have meet some standards required for a position or proficiency level (i.e. swimming or piano). This is how we decide if you go into EM1, EM2 or EM3 classes, if you could get into the school of your choice or get to study the subjects that you wanted to. Even soccer coaches need to be certified by FIFA/UEFA before they can manage a team in the English Premier League. It sure plays an important role now…

But that’s it. Summative assessment is only a tool in society. It only performs the task it is designed for and nothing else. Scoring distinctions in ‘A’ level music does not make you a Mozart. Alex Ferguson does not have a coaching badge from FIFA/UEFA but he is among the greatest soccer managers in the world who achieved great things. Einstein dropped out of was a slow learner in school and couldn’t find a decent job (unless you consider working in the patent office counts as decent) before his groundbreaking papers. Bill Gates did not have a business degree but he is the world richest fellow. And blah blah blah…

Right after a summative assessment, most of us just throw away what we had gone through. There are University students who would gladly bin their lecture notes right after their exams. There are drivers who break traffic rules right after they passed driving tests. In fact, you get Harvard and MIT graduates who don’t know why is it hotter in summer and colder in winter and how to light a bulb with a battery and wire. See this http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/05.29/VideoRevelation.html

I’m pretty sure they learnt these in class and perhaps even had some exams related to it. They must have scored pretty well in tests and exams to graduate from Harvard and MIT but yet they came out embarrassed in this study conducted a decade ago. Summative assessment is not a gauge on how successful you can be in the future. Getting A’s in mathematics may not even be a necessary condition for you to be a mathematician! Ever heard of Ramanujan? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

What’s most important in education is not to walk away with straight A’s. It is a place for you to pick up life skills, make friends and learn how to be independent and how to handle stress etc. It is to gain knowledge not to memorize facts. It is to learn how to think and be responsible for yourself. It is more character building than a collection of As.

I’ll say do your best, the rest will be handled by itself and whatever grades you get, there will be no regrets.

Just came back from a brain numbing course on assessment, feel a GP style essay coming right up about this topic soon but too tired to rant about it... the course was so condescending detailed that they even teach us to give feedback using crosses and ticks when we mark. Duh.... Naturally I spend the time practicing my skills on assessment today (simply just putting ticks and crosses on paper).

Anyway.. random photos from assembly yesterday.


DM blending in