TAKEN The Movie

I was deciding what movie to watch over the weekend. Wolverine is not out until Wednesday, and there wasn't any must-see movies in my list. Initially I decided to catch The International because I thought it must be a nice movie, not from the story point-of-view, but maybe cinematography or action. Then there was the Fast and Furious 4, but when I watched the trailer, I wasn't too excited. 

Then there is this movie called TAKEN. The title reminded me of the HBO series by Steven Spielberg, and so I didn't think highly of this movie. But after I watched the trailer and read the synopsis, I think this story has more depth than the other films. There is the human emotional drama (like "Changeling") with action (like "Bourne Identity").

I didn't realise the film is co-written by Luc Besson, and that it premiered in France more than a year ago. I was a fan of his movie ever since The Fifth Element. He's got an interesting way of writing his story. He has no qualms about gun violence, and breaks many rules about dramatic gun scenes in favour of surprises. For instance, in the final gun scene, the Sheikh held the protaganist's daughter hostage. The moment the Sheikh utters a word of negotiation, Niam Leeson's character put a bullet in his head without hestitation. Woah! I would expect some kind of dilly-dally drama like many other movies.

Apart from that, I think it's a great story, kindda like community message for the world about Europe human trafficking activities. Haha why should Singaporeans feel silly about Jack Neo's agenda-filled movies when other countries are also doing the same, albeit with more budget? As a father to a 2-year-old daughter, the film really connects to me. My wife commented that maybe Harrison Ford would have been more convincing, but I reckon he could only portray more as a desperate dad than a level-headed one. It's also unfair to say that Niam Leeson isn't suited for action films. I thought he is fine because he's already a father of a 17-year-old girl and has retired from CIA, so it shows on his face. But if the critics meant that he doesn't look suave and stylo to be a action star, well ya I guess so. This role needs more of a father-looking character than an action-looking figure, and Niam Leeson has that fatherly look, having acted as Obi Wan Kenobe's mentor, including some light-sabre-wielding sequences.

The only scene I thought was overly-glamourised is the long movie-tagline monologue where the character talks to the kidnapper, "... and I will find you, and I will kill you." The voice track was perfectly recorded, and as a voice talent, Niam Leeson really sounds great narrating the lines. But it just lacks emotional context for that scene.

I like the movie. I probably won't watch it again, but the story will live in my mind for years to come. It's a stark reminder of the dangers of the world out there, and young people needs to be wary of strangers and never to be too wild and playful to attract unwanted attention. The worst is that young people think they are smart enough to know the dangers, but I think these organised criminals are far more intelligent to fathom what tricks they could come up with.

Recently, a friend shared with me about someone who is not being honest in a business transaction. I found out that this someone has a history of being dishonest to people he engages for jobs. My argument to my friend is that: if this person with a poor history can still survive in this trade for years, then it really says something about his street-wisdom.

 

Why I'm not interested in E75

The Nokia E75 is the latest E-series mobile phone, a replacement to the E71 launched in June 2008. 10 months have passed, but it seems like time stood still and not much new features are found in E75.

While E75 boasts a large QWERTY keyboard, supports HTML email, and probably some firmware enhancements like seemingly better camera still and video quality (30fps VGA vs. 15fps QVGA), there is almost no critical differences. In fact, a quick comparison using Nokia website shows that the E75 contains only 50MB internal memory compared to 110MB for E71.

Thus the choice of E75 or E71 boils down to the looks and usability. I used to like to input text using the normal keypad via T9 because of the ease of one-hand operation, though I am often restricted by the word suggestions and occasionally I have to switch back to non-T9.

E71 works for me because I can still use the QWERTY keyboard with one hand. Some of the input facilitation features on the E71 include the multi-key press, so holding the Shift and pressing an alphabet gives me upper case. Or holding the Shift and moving the cursor lets me highlight text. Or long-press the keys to get the alternate numeral characters. When you want to make a call, the E71 is intelligent to recognise whether the keystrokes match a contact name, and if not, it will interpret as a phone number. These features replaces the need for touchscreen or keypad.

In comparison, E75's QWERTY keyboard is too wide and the keys are flushed. I believe I have to stretch my thumbs over a larger area which adds more muscular stress. Not forgetting that the phone is bulkier than E71.

Having said that, the E75 does have an advantage: the normal keypad. This will allow higher adoption of the E-series. Admittedly, I was initially apprehensive about the Blackberry-lookalike E71 that looks too "corporate". The E75 breaks the mindset and yet offers the user two input methods - best of both worlds. Interestingly, the E71 actually has a lot of non-corporate users, from students to normal office workers. No wonder the E71 has won many awards as the best mobile phone of 2008. While there is no doubt that the E75 delivers several improvements over the 10-month-old predecessor, the E71 is still a swell phone.

The D3X Verdict

Shot using D300 and Tamron 90mm, window light

Just submitted my D3X review to T3. Watch out for my review article, signed off as CT, on the magazine. And if you can't find my name on the contributor list page, that's because they left out my name occasionally.

In a nutshell, the D3X is no different from the D3, but offering different imaging extremes. For D3, you get high ISO performance; with D3X, you get low ISO high-pixel details. Yet this difference is worth over S$6000. Ironically, I don't feel like I am handling a $13k equipment. Perhaps, only Photoshop addicts could appreciate the image details that the D3X captures.

For my style of shoot, I prefer D700: it's got same fps as D3X, but it's lightweight and delivers identical ISO performance as D3. D3 users are action-shooters that needs 9 fps. D3X users are poster-men who want details at every pixel. But to fully exploit the beauty of D3X requires you to shoot at low ISO. That's not to say that D3 is incapable of details at low ISO, but in that respect, there is no fight between a 12mp and a 24.5mp sensor.

On an unrelated note, I did a family shot of a dancer-teacher friend, Soo Poh. She'll be featured in a Mother's Day article and needed the photos. These 2 photos are selected for the publication:


Shot at her house with the D300 using SB-900 shoot-through a white umbrella on the right of camera at 1/8, and a SB-800 on hotshoe bounced straight to ceiling at 1/4.

Another Creative Thai Ad

Thailand ads are often laced with emotions. Here's one to share.




Pantene did this 4-minute theatre commercial about a deaf girl who yearns to learn the violin, snubbed by her pianist classmate. Eventually, she overcame the prejudice and her own inferiority and did it.

Not as well done as the other Thai commercial I posted some time ago. Nevertheless a good inspiring storyline. I could work something along this line for my next photostory...

The most expensive DSLR in the market

Woken up at 6am by a bad tummy ache, followed by diarrhoea. What did I eat yesterday? Morning was Nasi Lemak at Cuppage Plaza Isle Cafe, lunch was Beef Noodles at Cineleisure, dinner was the Fried Noodles ("sang meen") with Fish Slices at Blk 505 zichar store. Just blogging here in case I, you know, well, can't blog due to some physical deteoriation. For now, the word "diarrhoea" is a fearful word in Singapore, where 2 person has died from food poisioning from the same store, and 154 recuperating.

Ironically, I had wanted to wake up early today to do some office work. So thanks to the tummy, I am one hour earlier from my expected time of awakeness.

Last night, I went to collect the Nikon D3X for review from T3's Shawn, who was at the Eleganz Talent Management studio doing a shoot for their next month's magazine. At RRP S$13,888, the D3X is probably the most expensive commercially-available DSLR in the market. More on that after I finished my reviews for T3.

Supposed to do some test shots with the D3X to see and compare the prowess. But I had to rush off. Did a few shots of the shoot process.

Next month's gadget girl for T3, Stacy

Whenever I get a new cam, I always test it out with my dearest daughter. She is the best test subject: focus speed, high ISO at room environment, auto WB, ease of switching shooting modes on the fly, video mode (for compact cameras), and more.

If I do get a full-frame DSLR, the next thing I'll buy is the 14-24mm lens.

Jessica's Jewels

Diamonds and pearls are a woman's best friends, aren't they.

Model: Jessica
Make-up: Lynnie, who was ill on the day of the shoot, so Jessica did the make-up at her house and travelled to the studio. We would so appreciate her presence at the studio to tidy up the hair and make-up.
Jewels: model's own

Do check out Jessica's own photoshop here

The curious case of the shrinking Carls Jr. burgers and motionless toilet business

1. Carls Jr. burgers have shrunk!

Last week, I went to Carls Jr. at Vivocity and ordered one Portobello Mushroom Burger with chilli beef fries, to share with my wife. When it came, we were appalled at the size and thickness. It's probably just the size of a BK Whopper. Whatever happened to the traditionally-huge serving? Paying more than $10 for a burger that puny? Looks like Carls Jr. is getting it quite wrong.

(edit 20 Apr 2009: my wife told me that when she went to the Big Splash outlet today, the burger was big as was before. Perhaps the above shrinking experience was a one-off.)

2. Motion Sensor in Toilets

If you are using the toilets for big and long business, just remember not to be alarmed if the lights suddenly go down on you - while you are on the throne. I experienced that, and fortunately it was in broad daylight. You might want to get hold of some objects to throw out of your cubicle to attract the attention of the sensor, like newspapers

Marina Barrage: Take 2

Exactly 7 days after June's shoot, I brought Samantha back to the Marina Barrage for another shoot. Not that I love that place, just that because it's near my wife's office. Come to think about it, despite my second visit, I have actually not explored all of the Barrage.

Canon First Ever Blogger Event at The Screening Room

I was invited to the Canon Blogger Event held at The Screening Room at Ann Siang Road. I was expecting a huge event but was pleasantly surprised that it was exclusively for a handful of around 20 guests.

Before the presentation started, we chilled out at the rooftop with the rest of the bloggers. Met and chatted with Claudia and Diana from 24seven, a social media company. Among the blogger guests, I only recognised Fidelis at the rooftop and Sabrina who appeared later at the event room.

Great view, great weather.

Once everyone was here, we were led down to the room. The effort they put in to present the colourful new Canon products among the fingerfoods.

Matching pastry colours against each digicam.

Canon announced like 8 new compact digicam models (IXUS 95IS, IXUS 1o0IS, IXUS 110IS, IXUS 990IS, Powershot SX200 IS, Powershot A1100 IS, Powershot A2100 IS, Powershot A480) with 27 colour variants, 1 new DSLR (EOS 500D), a new sub-brand for the camcorder called LEGRIA with 7 new models (HF S10, HF S100, HF20, HF200, FS21, FS22, FS200).

Wong Li-lin's the brand ambassador. She showed us some snazzy footages produced by the LEGRIA.


Me wifey cannot resist a photo opportunity with a celebrity.


Trying out on the Powershot SX200 IS. The lens is HUGE simply because it's a 12X wide-angle zoom digicam from 28mm to 336mm f3.4-5.3. Believe it, this digicam can take macro shot at zero cm. The flash auto pops-out and auto-retracts.


It was very nice of Canon to provide free 8GB SD cards at the door for all guests so that they can test the products and compare. I actually recorded a footage with the top-range LEGRIA HF S10 using my SD card but forgot to switch to SD card mode, so I wasn't able to enjoy the sharp footages produced by this camcorder at this moment. But really, it's impressive. The sensor is actually a full 8 megapixels instead of the usual 2mp for HD resolution, so the camcorder records in ultra-HD then downsamples.
Ironically, I did not touch the 500D at all, despite being a DSLR user - because I know I could get my hands on it from T3.

On hindsight, we should have a group shot. Or maybe they did, coz me and wifey left at 8.30pm to pick up our darling from my in-laws. Many thanks to Glenn from Ogilvy who invited me after visiting this blog, and Noel (Ogilvy) and Sin Yee (Canon) for their warm hospitality at the Screening Room.

P.S. All photos taken with the Canon Powershot G10.