Tunisia Trip Day 3

(10/12/2014: updated with photos)

First, we're staying the night in a town called Le Kef, and the hotel is the worst I've ever been in. It's even worse then the RMB120 room Leon put me in last time in Chengdu. They stuck me in a tiny room in the basement with a 9" TV that doesn't work, and a Chinese style air conditioner without a remote to turn it on. The bathroom is a joke with a tiny 3x3 shower, which is too small to move around without the shower curtain sticking to you. Tiny dirty towels too... at least they gave me two towels. The hotel is Les Pins... travelers beware!

3 stars, eh?


WTF?

I'm typing this in the hotel lobby surrounded by a bunch of smokers and some Arabic talk show blaring  on the TV. There are occasional beeps on the TV so I'm guessing they're censoring Arabic swear words. Anyway, today was a long hot day touring two separate Roman ruins. It's pretty amazing what the Romans were able to build over 2,000 years ago. I was impressed to see sit down toilets, something China still does not have consistently. At each site, I had to pay an extra dinar to get a ticket to take photos so I took a lot of photos.

First place we visited was Bulla Regia, a large archaeological site that was once a Roman city. There are several large villas with underground rooms for use during the super hot summers. Much of the mosaics found were removed and now displayed in museums, though some were left in place. We "hired" a guide to take us around; her English was pretty good. She also told us that they used to get multiple tours per day; after the revolution, they're lucky to even get one group each day.

Roman road from Carthage to somewhere in Algeria


Opening to underground rooms; not sure if this was covered by a canopy or roof when the structure was built


Mosaics are still vibrant after 2,000+ years (the guide splashed a bit of water to bring out the color)


Amphitheater


Public bathhouse near the entrance of the site

We then drove about an hour to Dougga, a huge Roman archaeological site. We had lunch on-site (bad) and also hired a guide who said he spoke English (bad). Here we met a large group of French tourists and a few English speaking tourists (not American). This site did not have as many mosaics but was much much bigger than Bulla Regia.


Dougga: World Heritage Site


Not so good lamb couscous... I didn't order it since I don't like lamb meat


Looking up the hillside


Underground tunnel


Looking east... rainstorm coming


The capitol, dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva


Large theater with amazing views

Along the way we drove about 120 km south, saw many crazy Algerian drivers, and lots of sheep being bought and sold. This weekend is the Eid al-Adha celebration and each family has to buy a sheep, and have a iman perform a ceremony before they kill and cook/eat the sheep. This makes everywhere we visit smell like sheep dung. Nice.

Truck from Algeria carrying gasoline in plastic containers


And the ghetto roadside "gas stations"; we saw a guy smoking a cigarette while "refueling" a car... not smart


Market Day meant bringing all your stuff to sell, setting up in the middle of the main road in town, and blocking traffic

Tired. We're setting out tomorrow at 8am again. We are supposed to visit El Djem later where there is a very well preserved Roman amphitheater. I hope it will be a cloudy and cool day.

Dinner at Les Pins

Tunisia Trip Day 2

(10/12/2014: updated with photos)

First full day in Tunisia started with breakfast at 7am in the hotel. I didn't feel adventurous so I stuck with pastries and colored sugar water (no grape drink though). The spread was descent but most of the fruit came from cans; definitely different from hotel breakfasts in SE Asia.

Do you know the way to Mecca?

Our first stop was the seaside town of Bizerte. Tour driver said that there is a lot less tourists since the summer peak season is over. We drove around a bit and ended up stopping in the town marina. There was a temporary fish market set up in the parking lot. People actually go out into the sea in the morning to fish so I guess everything is fresh. Our other stop today is in Tarbarka, which is only 25 km from the Algerian border. We found a random place in town to get lunch then checked into our hotel. The place we originally booked our reservation had some water issues so we were diverted to a slightly better hotel along the Mediterranean coast. Our driver then took us back to town for more sights, then back to the hotel for dinner. For both nights now, dinner and breakfast have been included in the room rate. Maybe it's standard here. Dinner was buffet style and was pretty good though the fruit selection was once again disappointing. During dinner, a group of college students knew one of our group members so we got to talk to them a bit in English. I also met a few college professors who were setting up a western style business college in Sfax. All instruction is in English so maybe I can put my University of Phenix experience to use. :)

Fishing boats at Bizerte


Fish market


More fried fish for lunch


Mediterranean Sea


Tarbarka coastline


Our 5-star hotel (Dar Ismail Tarbarka) at night; looks nice from the outside but the rooms are just average

One thing I'm noticing is that women's dress code varies quite a lot. I knew Tunisia was more on the liberal side of Islam but was surprised by how western the college students dressed, including t-shirts and short shorts. On the street we do see women in headscarves but it's not consistently conservative dress. Maybe it's due to cultural influences from France and Europe. However, the ratio of men to women out-and-about is super noticeable. We don't see any women sitting at roadside cafés; it's exclusively all men.

Another weird thing for me is the total lack of Asians, so people stare at us a lot. Many people would come up to us and say "ni hao". Still haven't decided if that's innocent or derogatory. Often people would come up and ask if we are Japanese instead. I just say no and tell them I'm American which seems to always cause more confusion.

It's now almost 10pm and I'm dead tired. I took one shower today already but looks like I need another one. The temperature is actually not too bad but still too hot and humid for me. We head south tomorrow so the weather will get warmer though maybe it will be less humid.

Average... touching the drapes made my hands smell like smoke :(

Tunisia Trip Day 1

(10/12/2014: updated with photos)

I'll update as long as I have wifi in hotel at night.

Well, I'm here. First time in Africa. There are wannabe ISIS terrorists to the west in Algeria, regular Al-Qaeda terrorists to the east in Libya, and Ebola virus outbreak from the south. During the past two weeks, Air France pilots have also been on strike so my flights from LAX to CDG to TUN did not resume until basically the day of my travel. Whew!

Tunisia and surrounding countries

It wasn't all smooth sailing though. A coworker dropped me off at a very crowded TBIT/LAX after lunch. For some reason, TSA wasn't accepting self printed boarding passes, even ones printed at airport kiosks. So, I had to stand in line for 30 minutes for a new boarding pass. The gate agent also went ahead and declared that my carry-on was too heavy, then checked it in. I only have 70 minutes scheduled for my Paris layover, a very short time if you need to transit luggage.

After clearing LAX security, I walked into a very nice shopping mall; it was my first time in TBIT since the big renovation. It took me 15 minutes of find my gate (123A); it was a double decker gate since I was flying in an Airbus A380. It then took like a hour to board the ~600 people, and we finally got underway about 15 minutes late. Since flight was still scheduled to land on time, I wasn't too worried. The cabin onboard the plane seemed small and same with the overhead bins, but I guess it's only 1/2 the total cabin size. The flight was uneventful though turbulence seems to only comes during meals. Like most reviews I've read, my experience was similar with Air France: good food, terrible seats, even in Premium Economy.

Premium Economy seats in Airbus A380 (I was in seat 85G)


Food was pretty tasty
- Smoked salmon and scallop flan
- Chicken with grain mustard, rice pilaf, vegetables
- Cheese
- Fruit compote
- Caramel custard

At arrival to Paris, the landing was on-time but we taxied around the airport for 25 minutes, and doors didn't open for another 10 minutes. By the time I deplaned, I had 20 minutes to find my connecting flight. Turns out I had to get on a tram to go to another part of Terminal 2E, then had to go through security again... crap. As I ran to my gate, I knew there was no way my checked-in carry-on will make the connecting flight to Tunis.

On arrival at Tunis, I finally met up with another person on our tour. She flew in earlier from NYC to Paris and was on the same flight to Tunis. We departed late, giving me a bit of hope for my bag, but after clearing customs in Tunis, my checked-in luggage was nowhere to be found. The lost luggage guy then confirmed that my bag was on the next flight from Paris, about 3 1/2 hours later. When I asked if they would deliver the bag to my hotel, they laughed and said I would have to come back in person. "This is Tunisia," I was told.

Arrival gate at Tunis-Carthage International Airport

Since it was too long to wait for my luggage, we exchanged some money ($200 = 355 Dinars) and our tour guide/driver took our group of 6 to our hotel. Hotel Majestic is rated 4 stars but it's probably only worth 2 in the US. After checking in, we went and walked around downtown Tunis. It was about 30°C but a bit humid and soon I was sweating profusely, with no clothes to change into. Anyway, we walked a bit in the Medina bazaar, bought some bottled water (0.580 dinars for a 1.5L bottle), and returned to our hotel for dinner (included in room rate). The main entree was either poisson (fish), poulet (chicken), or boeuf (beef). Food was decent but the serving size was huge and most of us could not finish.

Medina bazaar


Huge fried whole fish

After dinner, a friend and I took a taxi to the airport to look for my bag. Since multiple calls to the Air France (Tunisair?) baggage desk went unanswered, I was more than a bit worried. I found the same non-English speaking guy that helped me fill out the claim form earlier, and he brought out my bag from a locked storage room. There were lots of lost luggage in the room but I got my bag back. Yay!

Hotel room with found baggage

On a final note to this long day, the taxi driver taking us back to the hotel tried to rip us off. He wanted 25 dinars for the trip when we only paid 4 a few minutes ago. He then said the rates double at night (WTF?) and the meter was spinning faster than before, so I countered with 8 dinars. He still wanted 15 dinars but we settled on 10 dinars. Just to be a bigger asshole, he dropped us off a block away from the hotel. Sigh.

Email from "FBI"

LOL... 100% money back guarantee!

==========

Dear Beneficiary,

Series of meetings have been held over the past 7 months with the secretary general of the United Nations Organization. This ended 3 days ago. It is obvious that you have not received your fund which is to the tune of $2,500.000.00 due to past corrupt Governmental Officials who almost held the fund to themselves for their selfish reason and some individuals who have taken advantage of your fund all in an attempt to swindle your fund which has led to so many losses from your end and unnecessary delay in the receipt of your fund.

The National Central Bureau of Interpol enhanced by the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation have successfully passed a mandate to the current president of Nigeria his Excellency President Good luck Jonathan to boost the exercise of clearing all foreign debts owed to you and other individuals and organizations who have been found not to have receive their Contract Sum, Lottery/Gambling, Inheritance and the likes. Now how would you like to receive your payment? Because we have two method of payment which is by Check or by ATM card?

ATM Card: We will be issuing you a custom pin based ATM card which you will use to withdraw up to $12,000 per day from any ATM machine that has the Master Card Logo on it and the card have to be renewed in 4 years time which is 2019. Also with the ATM card you will be able to transfer your funds to your local bank account. The ATM card comes with a handbook or manual to enlighten you about how to use it. Even if you do not have a bank account.

Check: To be deposited in your bank for it to be cleared within three working days. Your payment would be sent to you via any of your preferred option and would be mailed to you via FedEx. Because we have signed a contract with FedEx Express which should expire by the end of this month, you will only need to pay $150 instead of $450 saving you $300 So if you pay before the end of this month you save $300 Take note that anyone asking you for some kind of money above the usual fee is definitely a fraudsters and you will have to stop communication with every other person if you have been in contact with any. Also remember that all you will ever have to spend is $150.00 nothing more! Nothing less! And we guarantee the receipt of your fund to be successfully delivered to you within the next 48hours after the receipt of payment has been confirmed.

Note: Everything has been taken care of by the Federal Government of Nigeria, The United Nation and also the FBI and including taxes, custom paper and clearance duty so all you will ever need to pay is $150.

DO NOT SEND MONEY TO ANYONE UNTIL YOU READ THIS: The actual fees for shipping your ATM card is $450 but because FedEx have temporarily discontinued the C.O.D which gives you the chance to pay when package is delivered for international shipping We had to sign contract with them for bulk shipping which makes the fees reduce from the actual fee of $450 to $150 nothing more and no hidden fees of any sort!

To effect the release of your fund valued at $2,500.000.00 you are advised to contact our correspondent in Africa the delivery officer George Ennis with the information below,

Name: George Ennis
Email: infofbi@foxmail.com

You are advised to contact him with the information?'s as stated below:

Your full Name..
Your Address:..............
Home/Cell Phone:..............
Preferred Payment Method (ATM / Cashier Check)

Upon receipt of payment the delivery officer will ensure that your package is sent within 48 working hours. Because we are so sure of everything we are giving you a 100% money back guarantee if you do not receive payment/package within the next 48hours after you have made the payment for shipping we the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) will get your funds refund back to you with immediate effect

Yours sincerely,

Chris Swecker
TELEPHONE: (917) 300-1432

Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with George Ennis of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.

Air France Sucks Less

The @airfrance Twitter guy got back to me after I harassed him/her again. There was no change to the website but they managed to put me in a window seat. Not really what I wanted but partial credit for trying. Still not sure why they can't offer seat selection on their website like every other airlines.

Of course, nothing for my return flight in mid-October. I guess I'll have to find Internet while in the Sahara Desert so I can try and get a set back from CDG-LAX. Sigh...

Air France Sucks

A few friends were planning a trip to Tunisia in October so I asked to tag along. It's a 10-day tour of the entire country, from the Mediterranean coast to Sahara Desert with a private guide. Last week, I searched for airplane tickets and ended up booking round-trip flights on Air France since it offered the best itinerary.

Anyway, after looking at the various flight options, I book travel in their premium economy class seats. It's a bit pricey at ~$1800 but I've grown weary of cramped economy class seats on long-haul flights. Additionally, you get to pre-select your seat; I usually want to sit in an aisle seat. Not sure why this was offered up as a bonus... I can reserve seats on almost all other airlines as part of the reservation. I even booked them directly on Air France's website.

Long story short, after the reservation was confirmed, I went back to the website and it told me I could not pre-select seats and would have to wait until 30 hours before check in. I called their toll-free line and was told the same thing. I was pretty frustrated and the CSR did not or could not help me. At one point, the conversation got ridiculous:

CSR: Sorry, they won't let me select seats either.
Me: Who is this "they" that won't let you?
CSR: The airline.
Me: Wait, are you not the airline? Who do you work for then?
CSR: The airline. Didn't you call us?
Me: OK, "you" won't let me select seats even though website says premium economy allows me to select seats...

Sigh.

I vented on Facebook and my 2 followers on Twitter and surprise, I got a response back from @airfrance on Twitter:

I DM'ed my ticket number and got this back:

Well, 8 days later, the website is actually worse. Before I could click on each flight and instead of a seat map, it would tell me the 30 day thing. Now I just see "No seat selection" and no place to click. Great. Maybe they were working on something but it seems like the AF Twitter media guy was just blowing me off.

First and last time I fly Air France.

KCON 2014

I remember the days when almost no K-pop group performed in the US. Now, it seems like there's a concert every month. I guess I shouldn't complain since LA gets more than its fair share of concerts. They are getting more and more expensive though. :(

KCON 2014 is in August and now extended to two nights. I just checked ticket prices and GA floor seats are ~$350 each for both nights. It's hard to tell from the website which artists are performing which night since I only want to see SPICA and IU. Anyway, I think I'll pass on this and most future K-pop concerts at large venues since it invariable gets filled with screaming teenagers who block your view... or I'm just getting too old.

==========

Ooh, a poster. Looks like IU and SPICA are on different nights. I guess I would go Sunday night if I had to choose. I've seen SNSD at Hollywood Bowl many years ago but it would be great to see SPICA in person.

Uji

[Perf] Thank U Very Much - BESTie

She's a good singer too...


[Perf] One More Step - Uji (BESTie)
Immortal Song 2 [20131221]

Hello Venus

Just started listening to them, even though they've been out for 18 months.


[MV] Would You Stay For Tea? - Hello Venus


[MV] What Are You Doing Today? - Hello Venus


[MV] Venus - Hello Venus

Hmm, only 5 members in the older video and now there are six. This just makes it harder to recognize anyone.

Wa$$up

[MV] Wa$$up - Wa$$up

I'm not really into the wannabe K-hip/hop genre since it seems too Americanized. There are even a bunch of white guys in the video. Did they shoot this in LA? All their MVs are similar if anonymous reader wants to search YouTube.

Current Favorite Girl Group

Apink. Most of the members don't sing that well, with the exception of Eunji. There was also some scandal where their management kicked out a group member after using her father's money and connections to build the group. Whatever.


[MV] Mr. Chu - Apink


[MV] NoNoNo - Apink


[Perf] MyMy + NoNoNo - Apink [Sketchbook]

Wow, those are enthusiastic uncle fans in the audience.

New AOA Song and Eye Contact MV

[MV] Short Hair (Practice) - AOA

What happened to the drummer?

New KARA

So Jin

Just found out that Nicole and Jiyoung are leaving KARA. Instead of sticking with just 3 members, DSP is adding a new girl.

==========

Another one:


Shi Yoon

==========

Ugh, there a whole bunch of them. DSP is turning this into a reality TV show to find new replacements. Not sure if I have the patience for this, since there are so many girl groups now.

Driving Under Intravenous

ChinaHush

Police pulled over a Jiangsu man for driving while attached to an intravenous drip on April 30, according to CCTV news.

Gang Fang was apparently traveling on a highway in Jiangsu province—located in east China—with a bag of fluid sticking from his sunroof, and a tube leading to his arm that Wednesday afternoon.

Gang told police that earlier that day he visited a hospital due to stress. Doctors told him to lie down, and take time off work, but the 38-year-old complained he didn’t have time. Attendants then gave him energy in the form of a drip, but the businessman still didn’t have time to wait in the hospital—he snuck over to his car, placed the bag on a stand behind his front seat, and poked the fluid from his sunroof.

Police then pulled him over for dangerous driving.

“I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong,” a witness overheard him say.

Gang now faces a driving ban, and a summons for dangerous driving. Motorists who travel while attached to a drip are apparently four times more likely to be involved in an accident than those who drive drunk, according to CCTV News.

“This is incredibly dangerous,” a police spokesperson said. “Not only was he taking medicines that could have affected his driving directly into a vein, he was unable to steer properly because he would have ripped the tube out.”

Dangerous driving? He was getting "energy in the form of a drip" which is what, like drinking a Red Bull? I'm pretty sure it's just a glucose solution. Do they have laws against driving with an intravenous drip in your hand?

Also, the story mentioned that "motorists who travel while attached to a drip are apparently four times more likely to be involved in an accident than those who drive drunk." Four times! Do they have actual statistics or is CCTV reporting BS again? How many intravenous accidents would you need to determine a statistic like that?

Pageviews+++

I told 2 other people about this blog... now I feel pressured to write more useless stuff.

Break Away - Cover

Break Away was originally performed by a group called Big Mama. Here is SPICA's cover:


Break Away - SPICA

Wow. All 5 girls are pretty and can really sing, even the rapper has a good singing voice. After seeing Girl's Day and Sistar live at LA K-pop Festival, my bucket list of girl groups is shorter but still includes SPICA. I've seen the following in concert, mostly at KMF.

- Girls' Generation
- KARA
- Wonder Girls
- Brown Eyed Girls
- Girl's Day
- Sistar

and of course, Baek Ji Young and Lena Park.

Kawaii Metal

Strange yet somehow addicting...


Gimme Chocolate!! - BABYMETAL

Two of the girls are only 14 years old. They're gonna be deaf by the time they turn 20.

Lunar Eclipse - April 14th, 2014

Blood moon

LA K-pop Festival - Photos & Videos

My Korean coworker was generous enough to give me her tickets that she got online so I did go to the concert Saturday night. I asked a few people to go but ended taking my mom with me, which turned out well.

The tickets I got were in section 18 row 77, which is way in the back corner of the Coliseum. Luckily, I texted an old church friend, who happened to be Lena Park's sister, and she told me she had 2 extra tickets up close so I met up with her and her in-laws before the concert. My mom ended up talking to her mother-in-law during our many waits in line.


LA Memorial Coliseum. This is where USC Trojans play football hence the colors.

When I found my friend, she was talking to her sister through a fence near the east end of the Coliseum. This is where they set up a red carpet and also the "backstage" area for performers. I was happy just to see a real pop star up close. There were lots of people crowding the fence and cheering when they thought they saw someone famous. Since Lena was in casual clothes, I don't think anyone recognized her. After waiting a bit, Lena's manager took us inside the VIP area.


I'm just passing through.

I wasn't sure where we were going but it was exciting! The manager led us to Lena's dressing "tent" and we stayed for about 5 minutes; it was mostly family time for her since my friend brought her kids. As we were leaving, my friend finally introduced me to Lena. I didn't feel it was appropriate to ask for a photo but I did get to shake hands and say a few words. :)

We then had to leave the VIP area and line up... first for the ladies' room, then a huge line to get inside the stadium. My friend got busted for their stroller (had to check it in) but we managed to get to our seats at around 7pm. The concert was supposed to start at 6:30pm but got delayed until 7:30pm, probably due to the incredibly lame parking ($25!) and traffic control. This was about 20 minutes before the concert:



There was a lot of talking before the actual concert, even the president/CEO of KBS showed up from Korea. Lena sang the US national anthem, and one of the 2PM guys sang the Korean anthem. They should have had Lena sing that as well, since the guy was not that good.



They kicked off with some weird Vegas showgirls intro then had all the groups come on stage. I only had my Sony RX-100 so the pictures aren't that great (max 3.6x zoom). The rest of the photos are from Koreaboo's Flickr feed. I also shot some blurry videos and uploaded them to YouTube.


Girl's Day. Finally got to see them live. They don't come out to the US too often. They sang their newer songs; I was actually hoping they would perform some of their older stuff, especially Don't Forget Me.


Something - Girl's Day


Expectation - Girl's Day


Dynamic Duo. I've heard of them but not their music/rap.


Baek Ji Young. Saw her at Hollywood Bowl several years ago. I really like her voice and songs even though I can't understand a word. Taecyeon from 2PM also came up on stage and they performed My Ear's Candy.


Don't Forget (IRIS OST) - Baek Ji Young


My Ear's Candy - Baek Ji Young + Taecyeon


I'm a little fuzzy on the performer order after this point. I think an old guy came up followed by this girl who sang very traditional songs (sounded like old Chinese/Japanese songs). Coworker told me today that she is only 16 years old.


I think at this point Girl's Day came up again...


... and soon followed by Sistar. Woohoo! I missed them at KMF 3 years ago since I was traveling in China. My Korean coworker wasn't familiar with them(!) and asked if they were the group that dressed kinda slutty. :)


Give It To Me - Sistar


Alone - Sistar. They also performed Loving U. I decided to relax and watch instead of shooting another shaky video.


Kim Tae Woo. He came up earlier to sing Love Rain and Hotel California. I've seen him twice at Hollywood Bowl before.


Lena Park. Third time I've seen her in concert as well. She sang two songs in Korean then collaborated with Kim Tae Woo on an English song.


Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Lena Park + Kim Tae Woo

At this point, it was after 9pm, cold, and only a few boy bands left. I'v seen SHINee and 2PM before so my mom and I left to beat the inevitable crazy traffic. I think my friend was going to meet her sister again after the concert but I didn't want to intrude on family time any further. I do have some minor nitpick about ridiculous parking and lame audio/video production, but overall it was pretty good due to the awesome artist lineup... definitely much better than any of the 3 KMFs I've been to and this concert was free.

77 Cents Myth

Ugh, can we work on real problems, please?

WSJ Opinion

April 8 is "Equal Pay Day," an annual event to raise awareness regarding the so-called gender wage gap. As President Obama said in the State of the Union address, women "still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns," a claim echoed by the National Committee on Pay Equity, the American Association of University Women and other progressive groups.

The 23% gap implies that women work an extra 68 days to earn the same pay as a man. Mr. Obama advocates allowing women to sue for wage discrimination, with employers bearing the burden of proving they did not discriminate. But the numbers bandied about to make the claim of widespread discrimination are fundamentally misleading and economically illogical.

...

These gender-disparity claims are also economically illogical. If women were paid 77 cents on the dollar, a profit-oriented firm could dramatically cut labor costs by replacing male employees with females. Progressives assume that businesses nickel-and-dime suppliers, customers, consultants, anyone with whom they come into contact—yet ignore a great opportunity to reduce wages costs by 23%. They don't ignore the opportunity because it doesn't exist. Women are not in fact paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men.

I've worked at 3 large companies (14,000 employees, 11,000 employees, and now ~3,600 employees) and have been very involved in recruiting and hiring. There is not one case of gender wage discrimination that I'm aware of in the ~20 years. It makes no sense... I want to hire the best candidate possible for as little money as possible, male or female. We also worry about every basis point of margin. I'd hire all women as well if I can get a huge margin bump.

Star Trails

First attempt at shooting star trails. Used the zoom lens and shot a 567 second exposure at 18mm and f/22. Since I'm in the city, I was expecting a lot of light pollution.



The resulting image was very dark so I had to use Picasa to change lighting/contrast to see anything. I made sure I was pointing north and you can kind of see Polaris as a single dot (no trail) between the power lines. There's also a few noisy pixels and a lot of shadows, which means I need to clean the lens.

I read online that a lot of the star trail photos, especially ones with really long trails, are composite images. Since my camera takes almost the same amount of time as the exposure time to process each image, not sure how I can shoot multiple shots without long gaps between each shot. Probably a camera body with a faster image processor.

CCTV on YouTube?!

Yup.

I found out about it from Twitter.

Funny how both sites are blocked in China by the Great FireWall.

Illegal Church Building

The Telegraph

In an episode that underlines the fierce and long-standing friction between China's officially atheist Communist Party and its rapidly growing Christian congregation, Bible-carrying believers this week flocked to the Sanjiang church in Wenzhou hoping to protect it from the bulldozers.

Their 24-hour guard began earlier this week when a demolition notice was plastered onto the newly-constructed church which worshippers say cost around 30 million yuan (£2.91 million) and almost six years to build.

Officials claimed the church had been built illegally and used red paint to daub the words: "Demolish" and "Illegal construction" onto its towering facade.

How is this possible? The church building is massive. Did the city officials not notice this huge $5 million building for the past six year?!

More likely scenarios:

1. City officials decided church did not pay enough construction bribes
2. Church did not want to pay "tax" or percentage of offering to city officials
3. Someone from church criticized the provincial party chief's mistress or something

How are they going to knock the building down anyway? Bulldozers probably won't work...

K-pop Girl Group, Chinese Style

LOL WUT?

I saw this from an article from chinaSMACK. Cute(-ish) girls in skimpy clothing? Check. Weird dance choreography? Check. Repetitive yet nausea-inducing music and lyrics? Check. Except for the KonglishChinglish, this is just like a K-pop girl group MV.


好乐Day - Wang Rong (王蓉)

Way too much English in the lyrics. Seems like they inserted English words and phrases at random. One of the cS comments said 外国人听不懂，中国大妈听不明白，这是只属于我们这代的语言，Chinglish (Foreigners can't understand this, Chinese aunties can't comprehend this, this is our generation's language: Chinglish). I doubt many young Chinese people can understand this either.

The quality lyrics remind me of another song:


Friday - Rebecca Black

I listen to a lot of K-pop without understanding any of the lyrics. I cringe when listening to either of the above songs since I can understand English and Chinese (most of the time). Is this true for Koreans when they listen to or watch MVs from Orange Caramel or Crayon Pop?


까탈레나 (Catallena) - Orange Caramel