Babbly Lucy

I'm loving everyone's green avatars on Twitter

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:18:40 +0900

That’ll show Ahmadinejad! He’s all “I won,” and Twitter’s all, “Oh yeah? Check out these green avatars, buddy.”

He’s like, “Whoa. Touche.”

lols

absoluticris: when it absolutely, positively has to be there in...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:18:03 +0900

absoluticris:

when it absolutely, positively has to be there in nine months.

randominternet: terminally-incoherent Touché.

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:02:09 +0900

randominternet:

terminally-incoherent

Touché.

bauldoff: Wonderful use of minimal space in the Long Tall House...

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:01:28 +0900

bauldoff:

Wonderful use of minimal space in the Long Tall House by architect Kagawa Takanori of SPACESPACE. Note the photographs in the right column above show the same room with a slide-out stairway.

Huge collection of lust-worthy photos of the project over at Dezeen.

(via madame hervé)

I would totally live there.

randominternet: via sexual This seemed like it needed a...

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:44:51 +0900

randominternet:

via sexual

This seemed like it needed a reblog…

So everyone DIES at the end of the play. What the effing crap?!

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:02:40 +0900

So everyone DIES at the end of the play. What the effing crap?!

At the kids’ interschool play now. Wish I could tape it all.

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:54:46 +0900

At the kids’ interschool play now. Wish I could tape it all.

Leaked photo of Olympus’ upcoming Micro Four-Thirds...

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:12:00 +0900

Leaked photo of Olympus’ upcoming Micro Four-Thirds camera, the E-P1. Supposed to be announced TOMORROW (June 16th). Text lust: ACTIVATED. (Via 43rumors.)

Panasonic Lumix GH1 AVCHD video recording notes

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:39:48 +0900

I’ll keep this simple: this is a list of facts about recording video with the Panasonic Lumix GH1 (Japanese version) that are not immediately obvious and usually not covered by the professional reviews.

Battery life is 163 minutes while recording AVCHD video (1280x720, 60p, EVF only, continuous auto-focus, Intelligent Auto Mode), with 162 minutes of total video recorded (across 3 memory cards). Panasonic’s video recording battery life estimate was 120 minutes. I had some technical difficulties beforehand, which meant I did not start recording on a completely full battery (I probably used up several minutes of recording time), and I also turned off the camera twice to switch between full memory cards (a 16GB and a 2GB), so you could probably squeeze out even more video with a bigger card (32GB or more) and fuller battery.
AVCHD is free from the 4GB FAT32 single-file limit. When your recording goes over 4GB, the GH1 automatically starts recording to a new file, so your full recording can span several files. The recording only becomes one single file when it is imported into a computer and combined by the computer’s software. Therefore, recordings are only limited by the capacity of the memory card (except for the European version of the GH1, which is purposely limited).
Importing/converting AVCHD is time- and space-consuming. All consumer-grade, and most pro-grade, video editing software require that AVCHD be imported to the computer and converted into a format that the software can edit. This can easily take twice the length of the recording and will result in uncompressed files that are MUCH larger than what was on the memory card. So even though you can take 4 full hours of 1920x1080 video on one 32GB card, you might not want to import what may be several hundred gigabytes of video.

Got any more questions about the GH1 or requests for tests? Ask away in the comments! (Please keep in mind that I am not a professional reviewer and do not have much to work with beyond the GH1 itself.)

karenh: In 2003 I heard the original designer of Hello Kitty,...

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:10:17 +0900

karenh:

In 2003 I heard the original designer of Hello Kitty, Yuko Shimizu speak at the TOKION Creativity Now conference. I was shocked that she didn’t make a penny in royalties, as she created the character while an employee of Sanrio.

hello-kitty:

Kitty Fever

Yuko Yamaguchi, who has designed Hello Kitty for 29 of the character’s 35 years, says Kitty did not gain in popularity until the mid-1980s.

…and now you know.

Human dignity in the face of tragedy

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:48:00 +0900

I am both fascinated and awed by the honesty and dignity of the French government in handling the apparent crash of the Air France jet. President Sarkozy said from the outset that survivors were very unlikely, all the while highlighting the enormity of the tragedy and expressing his deepest sympathies. He pledged France’s best efforts in locating the wreckage and helping families cope, and also humbly thanked all the other nations that had jumped in with their support.

There was no evocation of a higher power and no call to wish for anything beyond earnest human abilities; France and all the other nations involved are working to the best of their humble, human powers, and no one has an “in” or an incantation that would work with the forces that govern life and death.

In America, we are used to not ever giving up hope for survivors, “so help us God”… it is a very comforting notion that someone with greater powers than our own could be asked to protect our friends and family members, but if you imagine yourself as a family member of one of the victims, would you really want to latch onto that unlikely hope and go through a second round of tragedy when that insignificant fraction of a likelihood of survivors never materializes?

I think there is also a tendency to believe that people are somehow less urgent in their search if they understand just how tiny a possibility it is for there to be survivors. People forget just how much humans care about what happens to the flesh and blood of other humans… we do not simply stop caring when we think an intangible soul is lost; we care immensely for the physical, visceral truth, for we can see that, and we cannot see any such place as heaven.

So I applaud the hard work and efforts of the men and women involved in the search, and have only the most profound sympathy towards those affected by the tragedy.

Woes of a slightly hermetic, wholly terrible planner

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:50:00 +0900

July 25th is the Sumida River Fireworks Festival, the biggest fireworks display in Tokyo. And I will be in Tokyo on that night with my parents.

I want to just hide away on quiet streets and avoid the 100,000 other people who will be squeezing onto trains, down narrow streets, and into parks to see the show in 90-degree tropical humidity… but reality will probably see me squeezing along with the herds, feeling pretty miserable. Those fireworks better be worth it. (Though personally, I’d rather go to the Samba Carnivale.)

And that is all that I have planned for this epic 2-week trip around Japan my parents and I are taking. Hopefully, the 26th will see us fleeing Tokyo for Nagoya or Osaka, but what we will do at either place is still a mystery to me.

But after the Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe bit, we should be heading back up to cooler Hokkaido climes… where I can chill with lots more personal space between me and my fellow humans. Should be fun!!

A pretty silly test run of using the Gorillapod to mount my GH1...

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:08:05 +0900

A pretty silly test run of using the Gorillapod to mount my GH1 to the passenger seat. Worked well, but was boring, so I sped it up 4x, added some crazy effects, and threw some music on in the background (“Missing Link” by the Hives, purposely at a really awful bitrate). iMovie 06 evidently can’t handle 16:9, so the letterboxing got insane… but I like the results.

My heartfelt, plain-English review of the Panasonic Lumix GH1

Sun, 31 May 2009 17:04:00 +0900

One month and over 20,000 images later, I’m ready to say a few things about the GH1 that’s sort of like an actual review. (And note that for simplicity, I will just refer to the GH1 as a DSLR, though I realize it technically is not one without the mirror mechanism.)

It is not the best DSLR and not the best camcorder… but still may make you fall in love with it.

At $1500 US for the 14-140mm lens kit (or around $900, body-only), ~~it costs almost twice as much as an entry level camera from Nikon or Canon, but can’t even match those in still image quality because~~ it rivals both the price and quality of mid-range SLRs from Nikon and Canon, despite the fact that its Four-Thirds sized sensor is 30-40% smaller than the APS-C sensors those DSLRs (edit note: I stand corrected!). It also has a total of 4 lenses (as of May 2009) that work without an adaptor. But add on one of the many adapters available, and you not only have access to the new Four-Thirds lenses from Olympus, but many inexpensive old lenses from Canon, Nikon, and Pentax’s film days, as well as the top quality, legendary lenses of Leica’s rangefinders (none of which work on the mirror-mechanism, larger sensored DSLRs from Nikon, Canon, etc.). And the ability to shoot full 1080p HD video through some of the best lenses in the world is enough to make some people salivate uncontrollably (just check Flickr for some of the amazing results).

But even then, its video is not perfect. It has traces of the “rolling shutter” effect (where it looks like your whole scene is lit by a flickering fluorescent bulb) and the “jelly” effect (where the edges of the frame seem to wave and jiggle during panning and action-filled shots), which will make those serious about video quality cringe. Even so, amazing results can come from working within the GH1’s limits, as professional filmmaker Philip Bloom demonstrates in his videos.

However, for the “expert” point-and-shooter, this may be your dream camera.

As someone who is used to the limited manual settings and video mode on her point-and-shoot, I’ve personally found the GH1 to be pretty freaking awesome to work with. The Intelligent Auto mode is great for candids and snapshots where you don’t want to think about camera settings. The camera will automatically detect if you’re shooting a close-up or a night landscape or a portrait and adjust settings to suit. The face-tracking AF/AE also makes sure human faces in your shots are properly focused and exposed. It doesn’t work perfectly (it fails of faces are turned downwards, upwards, or otherwise away from the camera, and I haven’t gotten it to detect more than 3 faces at once in candids), but does a good job of detecting even profiles of people, especially if they are smiling.

The rest of the settings are as you would expect on any DSLR. Though I should note that the Movie Mode on the mode dial is actually full manual movie mode. Inexperienced shooters should stick to shooting video in Intelligent Auto or aperture priority mode. The “record” button on the thumb rest lets you easily record a movie in ANY shooting mode… a minus to some with bigger thumbs who may accidentally press the button, or to more serious photographers, but a great ability for the snapshot/candid/documentary shooter, who can now decide on a whim whether to take a photo or record a video.

The rotating screen is one of my favorite parts of the whole camera, since it opens up endless shooting possibilities without the need to shoot blind or guess what your shot will look like. It really encourages you to experiment and get up into places you might not normally go when you’re limited to an optical viewfinder or back-mounted LCD display.

At the same time, it’s also pretty small as DSLRs go. It never feels heavy around my neck and so it’s pretty easy to carry around. Of course, it’s not as tiny and compact as my old point-and-shoot, but it makes the transition to a bigger camera much easier than, say, a Nikon D90 (which is an HD film enabled DSLR around the same price).

Add all that to the plethora of external mics (anything with a standard 3.5mm stereo mic jack) and lens possibilities, and you’ve got quite a bit to experiment with, in a format that invites experimentation by even inexperienced users.

But pro DSLR / camcorder users will probably want to stick to their dedicated rigs.

While I personally think this is a great camera for amateurs or beginners in both digital video and DSLR photography, the price tag tends to scare away most beginners, which is a pity. The camera has a lot of limitations that, as I’ve said before, will make pros cringe.

The electronic viewfinder will be very awkward for the seasoned DSLR shooter (though very familiar to the filmographer), and while the manual focus is very good, it’s slow and less intuitive compared to a conventional DSLR and will take some time to get used to. The image quality, especially in low light and high ISOs, also cannot compare to similarly priced dedicated DSLRs. And I’ve already mentioned its weaknesses with video quality.

In addition, movies are recorded in AVCHD format and limited to as long as your memory card can handle (6/11/09: please see my notes about video recording). Converting these videos, however, will often take longer than the length of the videos themselves. On my 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro with 4GB RAM, a 3 minute video takes around 5 minutes to import, and exporting takes at least double that time.

So where’s that love I was talking about?

When all is said and done, I DO love this camera. My own creative process as an artist is about embracing the limits of a medium and finding creative solutions to still make stuff look pretty dang good. For me, it’s more important to have a camera that is super portable and does both stills and videos well enough, while being both flexible and expandable.

So if you aren’t reliant on having the best image or video quality (you’re better off with $5000+ specialized rigs if you are searching for either), but just want to pursue your creative outlets in a pretty easy and efficient way, you may want to consider the GH1. For everyone else… you’ll probably want to wait for better reviews.

For Teenagers, Hello Means ‘How About a Hug?’

Fri, 29 May 2009 18:24:30 +0900

For Teenagers, Hello Means ‘How About a Hug?’:

vivvo:

“It was needless hugging — they are in the hallways before they go to class. It wasn’t a greeting. It was happening all day.”

What the hell. This is ridiculous. Why are people afraid of human contact??

“Parents, who grew up in a generation more likely to use the handshake, the low-five or the high-five, are often baffled by the close physical contact.” NYT gets +1000 for mentioning the low-five.

I am feeling the generation gap already: no one hugged after I graduated from elementary school. Kids wanted to be badasses, untouchable, emo, whatever. I’m glad that the nice, friendly kid is in now.

GIF Moment

Fri, 29 May 2009 18:11:31 +0900

absoluticris:

this gif i made is for all the people who complain about tumblarity.

if i gave you lemons you wouldnt make lemonade, instead you would take a huge gaping bite from it and complain how sour it is.

Slightly related note: the new Star Trek movie FINALLY comes out today in Japan. Going to see it tomorrow.

Extreme boredom at the office means I start Photoshopping...

Thu, 28 May 2009 21:50:11 +0900

Extreme boredom at the office means I start ~~Photoshopping~~ Pixelmating (okay, that sounds dirty) together camera accessories I want. But seriously, would not the above go together SO SEXILY?

Geek self-portrait.

Wed, 27 May 2009 20:47:21 +0900

Geek self-portrait.

karenh: wondering why didn’t I think of that? Tote bags as...

Wed, 27 May 2009 20:44:37 +0900

karenh:

wondering why didn’t I think of that?

Tote bags as throw pillows (via notcot)

Ditto

I don’t understand why they don’t sell this in Japan...

Wed, 27 May 2009 11:06:00 +0900

I don’t understand why they don’t sell this in Japan yet.