porrrSCHE's Xanga

Wine and Dine

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:47:10 GMT

Monday, November 09, 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:13:06 GMT

Watch this.

Have you ever been at a party, surrounded by people, yet you felt lonely? Have you ever taken it out on a loved one just to get their attention? Have you ever wanted to leave everything behind this instant and escape? This movie captures those feelings very well.

Happy Halloween!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:02:18 GMT

Camera Hacking

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:38:42 GMT

I worked on a camera project this past weekend. See how I am pretty invested into the Canon EF mount, and yet still have a lot of old Pentax K-mount lenses from when I used the K200D, I've finally bought an adaptor online to try to put Pentax lenses onto my Canon 5d Mark II. It is not a straight up process. Some disassembly of the lens is required to fit my full-frame EF mount camera. (EF-S doesn't require hacking) See this link for come picture tutorials (instructions in chinese) http://stevenlins.blogspot.com/2008/05/pentax-k-canon-ef.html

Each lens modification is slightly unique but totally manageable for a not so mechanically inclined person such as myself. I adapted 3 Pentax mount lenses to fit my 5D, and they are the DA 18-55mm kit (not full frame lens), 135 f/2.5 prime, and my prized 55mm f/1.2 prime.

It was a little intimidating to unscrew parts off a lens, but seeing how those particular ones don't cost very much, I learned a great deal taking them apart and putting them back together. Well, not the whole thing, but just the rear lens mount anyways.

Here is the Pentax DA 18-55mm Kit lens on my Canon 5D2. I had to modify it so it would shoot only wide open, otherwise, the aperture would spring to the smaller aperture.

@18mm (note the huge vignette since this is a APS-C lens on a Full-frame camera)

@55mm (at 55, much of the vignette is gone)

Here is the 135 f/2.5 and its DOF.

@135mm

And here is the covet 55mm f/1.2 and its lovely bokeh.

@55mm

Some larger photos to illustrate the lovely and huge f:1.2 aperture.

Having a really large aperture really makes what's in focus POP out of the photo. Look at the eyes on my dog Bonbon.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:31:19 GMT

This guy, Randy George, is fucking talented! He is doing a cover of Daft Punk's Something About Us. It is kinda cheesy and amateurish, but just watch it, its fucking awesome! The instrument he plays at the end is called a theremin. Fuck I want one!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:47:27 GMT

Went to a cancelled concert with Angel on Friday night, satisfied my massive hotpot craving on saturday night followed by a Oceans 13 and Quantum of Solace movie marathon, and went to try a new Japanese Izakaya on Denman with my gf tonight. I love busy weekends

Also did quite a bit of cleaning in my computer room. I was getting really sick of all the clutter and junk, and after reading on all the different ways of tidying up and making things more efficient around your workspace on Lifehackers.com, I was inspired to do some rearranging and throwing out of crap. Moved my printer, threw away my stack of useless papers and old bills, and added a soft ambient light behind my iMac.

So this is my setup.

Computer, phone, external hard drive, a picture of my girl, a memento from Paris, and a in/out box for my things. I must say, the back lighting really works. Especially when my walls are nearly dark, the back lighting makes it less of a contrast so it's easier on the eyes.

Oh one more thing, my gf and I made a casting of our hands a few weeks ago. I think this is a pretty cool gift idea for your significant other.

And now it sits right on my desk. :)

Also, check out this link ( http://lifehacker.com/5367129/nine-workspaces-where-famous-folks-get-stuff-done ) for 9 workspace where famous people get their stuff done. There is Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Al Gore, and more.

A long overdue racing post

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:25:56 GMT

Although I haven't talked about autocrossing on here for quite some time, that doesn't mean I have stopped racing this year. In fact, I did a number events including several Novice Tour Championships, and the Kumho Super Challenge.

This also happens to be my friend Wilson's novice year, and I have been co-driving with him since February in his C-stock 2000 Miata.

I'm the guy in the silver helmet constantly yelling at him to go faster :P

His car is brilliantly easy to drive, intuitively responsive, and great overall fun. I would describe it as, clinical. No fuss, no commotion, no fear.

It is so composed that it almost looks slow from the outside. It is quiet since it has no loud exhaust, and no tire squeal to speak of, just the occasion tire smoke from locking up a wheel on turn in or spinning an inside wheel on exit.

It rides on tiny 14" wheels with super fat 225mm wide rubber. Lots of torque upon acceleration coupled with incredible amounts of lateral grip then.

So grippy, in fact, that I get bruises where my legs bang against the door and centre tunnel after every race!

Yesterday's event saw me and Wils coming in the Top 10.

In fact, my raw and indexed result was the same. 5th out of 60 drivers, albeit a lot of them were novices. Regardless, I was quite happy with the result. But I did not achieve my goal of Indexed FTD. I think this car is totally capable of it. After some calculations, I needed to be 1.0 full second faster to get a FTD. A feat that I believe I can accomplished with some more practice.

It's no iPhone, but it'll do!

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:02:27 GMT

Got this for myself for my bday. $230 unlocked, pretty cheap for a smart phone I think!

Has the only thing I really need/want on a phone, Wifi.

Epic Birthday!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:33:20 GMT

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:44:45 GMT

Summer this year has been quite awesome. Nothing big happened in particular either. No long trips, no life changing events, no surprises. If it was any other way, I might have thought it would been a boring and ordinary summer. But I've never enjoyed a warm and simple summer as I have this year. It is probably because I know this will most likely be one of the last "free" summers for a long time, as I am planning on going back to school, down a new career path. It is also that I just feel really happy in life. Very fortunate to have those around me. Very happy how everything has turned out so far. Sigh..

And here's a jelly fish video I took when we went to the aquarium on one of our perfect dates.

Ever since my iMac, i think i have been converted into a Mac addict! I check Apple Store Canada pretty often to see their stock of refurbished Macbook Pros. One of these days I will spring for a 15" or 17" MBP.

The funny thing is that when you walk up to a 17" macbook pro at an Apple store, you don't really realize it is 17" as opposed to a 15" because you'll have no perspective looking at it sitting on the table. Its when you put your hands on the keyboard that you realize "Holy shit, this thing is fucking huge!"