SATURDAY, 8/25/2001, 10:58am HST by Penfold

To the coast with me.

As a PSA to you poor downtown slaves looking for parking, check out the Downtown Planet parking list.

They remind me of a joke I heard once.

Teacher: Explain to me the difference between ignorance and apathy.

Student: I don't know and I don't care.

A little too much

STANWOOD -- A naked man wandering around Stanwood Cinemas led authorities to his indoor marijuana garden after they asked him what he did for a living, police said.

FRIDAY, 8/24/2001, 12:10pm HST by Raul

I've been experimenting lately with my "99 cent macro" lens -- a cheap magnifying glass purchased at the Marukai 99 cent store -- and FL-40/pocket bouncer lighting. The bouncer works extremely well for macros -- it's in the right angle to illuminate an object right in front of the lens if you tilt the flash down to around 45 degrees or so.

I find that it's easy to control the backgrounds and focusing with the flash -- it will easily provide enough light at that close range to close the aperture all the way down -- a must for macro photography, which really compresses the DOF down to millimeters.

And the thing itself.

FRIDAY, 8/24/2001, 2:45am HST by Raul

I have been poorly managing my posting time lately. I will repent. My penance is in the works.

Ya go on vacation for a coupla days and Detroit signs Brett Hull behind your back. I didn't stand a chance. Neither do most teams in the NHL against Detroit, now.

Now playing, at a Costco near you ... Nikon's Coolpix 775, the company's entry into the ultracompact market now dominated by the Canon Elph. It's a 2.1 megapixel (1600x1200) camera with a 3x zoom lens.I checked one of these out at CompUSA. It's fairly well-made, but compared to the Elph, it really feels plasticky. Of course, that means lighter weight, although it is a tad bit larger than an Elph (but still tiny). In use, the body is a little more ergonomic than the Canon "box" shape, and the viewfinder is usable, but really not much better than the Canon one. I tend to feel that the Canon's motors and controls are a little more refined and smooth-moving. The Nikon motors felt a little rough and the shutter a little pokey. I'd be hard-pressed to recommend this over an S300 Elph outright, but it does seem to be priced about 10% lower.

Full DPReview here.

Well the Firingsquids have gotten some information up about the upcoming nVidia nForce chipset. It seems like it should be a breakthrough product, but only time will tell if the numbers turn up. I wonder how much they can squeeze out of that GF2 MX core with the new memory bandwidth.

Solovision is the world's only dual-purpose Palmtop screen protector -- it also shields your Palm from prying eyes by going "opaque" from sharp viewing angles. Check it out here. The subject: keeping your data safe in the digital age. Discuss.

One of our longtime readers-at-large, Dr. Mikee, submitted this personal cat-man anecdote:

I know this guy! We met in San Diego in 1975 when I used to hang with my friend Glen, who did some tattooing for me. We called him "Dennis the cat boy". He had the face, then, but not the teeth... He used to say his hobby was answering stupid questions about his tattooing..! (is it real.. did it hurt...WHY did you do it....) One time, when we went to the National Tattoo Convention at the Bahia, they woudnt let him in, saying he was "bad for tattooing!" All the facts in the story are accurate, except it must have been more like 30 years he has been doing this, cuz he had the face and most of the bodywork in '76 ....I saw it.

Pot song fuzzed

MTV was caught between two conflicting impulses: the desire not to be left on the sidelines with a hot pop trend, and its policy not to promote drug use.

Its standards department negotiated for a couple of weeks with Universal before getting an acceptable version of the video to air. ...

MTV wouldn't detail the changes, but a record company executive who requested anonymity said all visual references to smoking marijuana were removed. A scene at the video's end showing Afroman sharing a spliff the size of a baseball bat with the movie's stars, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, was excised. So was a common vulgarity referring to a woman's anatomy, and a sneaker company's logo.

THURSDAY, 8/23/2001, 11:58pm HST by Penfold

Seeing that there's not much content to post, I guess I'll just have to make my own.

I've been to the Continental President's Club and the Northwest Worldclubs, and I can say the Continental one is much more pimp. Live bartenders and way more wood paneling make it the shit.

This is the EWR one.

One thing Toronto has is some funky architecture.

The first image is the Royal Ontario Musuem located on the University of Toronto Campus. About five stories tall and generally huge.
The next one is the CN Tower. Something like the Space Needle. Basically a big, tall tower with a restaurant up there.
This is the inside of the BCE Center building, crowned best office building in Toronto for 2001. Also the home to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Lastly, this is Pierson Square (I think). It's the seat of power for the government of Ontario. Note the big blue Olympic Moose. My hotel was right behind me when I took that picture.

WEDNESDAY, 8/22/2001, 11:58am HST by Penfold

Man, actually doing work sucks.

Stop the 56k abuse. Now that I have my broadband, I never want to go back.

Fabrice Morvan, one of the tragic pair, is out pimping himself in a kareoke tour. At least they poor guy is making some money. Read about it here.

Some more flash action. This one is more of a flash role playing game. Check out Roshoman Cafe here.

Fap fap fap

CORONA, Calif. -- It's unconstitutional for the state to tell topless dancers they can't touch themselves, a state appeals board ruled.

WEDNESDAY, 8/22/2001, 8:15pm HST by Raul

Some random surf shots. With the exception of the lower left one (one for the spongers), all are resized from full frames. All are unedited. As expected, better lighting improved the results from the supercombo.

Last vacation-style post. Back to your regularly scheduled content tomorrow.

TUESDAY, 8/21/2001, 10:58pm HST by Penfold

Now that I'm back, you get to hear all about Toronto.

Little did I know of the sheer number of Niagra wineries. I visited Chateau des Charmes, Inniskillin, Pillitteri, and Peller Estates. Generally speaking, their sweet wines are better then the dry ones. Damm, I'm going to need a wine cellar soon.

Note the second picture is a floor to ceiling stack of champagne bottles that goes back about 20 yards.

To keep the aliens from communication with you, make a Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie.

Some more flash animation movies for your pleasure, Genryu's Blade.

Very very unusual stuff. Play tweese the nose here.

Submitted by Meili the Nose

TUESDAY, 8/21/2001, 8:50am HST by Raul

Based on the ever so funky-yet-functional F505 series (basically a lens with a camera attached), with the F707, Sony has set its sights on the highest end of the consumer market. Featuring a 5 megapixel sensor, swiveling body, sharp Zeiss lens, and laser-assisted autofocus, the 707 garnered higher praise in at least one review than the last 5 megapixel camera to hit the market, Minolta's D7, despite its inferior adjustability and memory stick being the sole, unfortunate option. It even won praise as nearly D1X-like in image quality (well, sort of) in another review that doesn't quite have the balls to pit the 707 against its obvious competition. Of course, control is another story entirely, as this camera is more squarely aimed at the "consumer" mindset than even its closest competitor, the D7.

In other news, a little while ago, Canon released their latest high-end consumer digicam, the 4-megapixel G2.

Well KTUH is alive and well again (although the workers beneath the antennae are reportedly less so, over time), and their Web site has been revamped as well. They're sponsoring a contest to determine the new reach of the transmission on the 90.3 frequency. All I know is I can hear it all the way to work, and that's good enough for me. No more virtual Hawaiian music courtesy of 100.3!

MONDAY, 8/20/2001, 5:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Back in the Saddle" Edition

I was on a 10 hour non-stop flight from Newark, NJ to Honolulu. The showed 4 movies in a row.

Just a little something to tide you over until I get a full post up.

MONDAY, 8/20/2001, 1:45pm HST by Raul

The Philadelphia Flyers finally absolved themselves of sourpuss superstar Eric Lindros, dealing him to the New York Rangers for "left wing Jan Hlavac, defenseman Kim Johnsson, prospect Pavel Brendl and a mid-level draft pick." This can only help both teams, but the Flyers are now looking like a force to be reckoned with in the coming season, quite possibly THE force. But then again, that's a tough one to call with Detroit, Dallas and Washington making significant trades to bolster their chances, and New Jersey and Colorado not losing much fire from last season ...

As I mentioned the other day, some "free" filesharing clients like Audiogalaxy have built-in spyware (as opposed to adware, which is livable). Ad-Aware is about the most user-friendly fix for these. And the best part: it's free.

Enough. Still on vacation, but had to get the Lindros thing up.

SUNDAY, 8/19/2001, 11:59pm HST by Jui

Friday, August 17, 2001
Nu'uanu Soto Mission Bon Dance

As a kid I used to go to the bon dance at my Grandma's church. It was fun to work in the food booth and eat malasadas, andagi, teri beef sticks, and shaved ice to my heart's content. I stopped going when I realized that it was for mostly old ladies in kimonos. Four years ago, I started to go again to see Kerri's taiko group play. I've noticed that there are a lot more young people going to these bon dances! I'd say it's a good place for a guy to meet a girl, or a girl to meet a guy, or even a guy to meet a guy.

• LEFT: This structure is called the yagura. It's the center point of the bon dance circle and the place where the musicians perform.
  
• CENTER: How could I not take a picture of this guy? He was ever SO "graceful" and an excellent dancer!
  
• RIGHT: My style of shooting is the "sit and observe" method. I like to plant my butt somewhere inconspicuous and out of the way, then shoot whatever happens to be around me. I caught this shot right after the man tied the bandana on the little boy's head.

• LEFT: Some of my best pictures just happen right in front of me, like literally. I was just standing around talking to my friend and her grandma and saw this shirt. Only in Hawaii will you find these shirts with that kind of humor on such beautiful color of skin.
  
• RIGHT: This is another one of my "sit and observe" shots. I sat the camera down on the table and without the flash caught this in "stealth" mode.

Saturday, August 18, 2001
Hawaii Matsuri Taiko Performance
Iida's Grand Re-opening, Ala Moana Shopping Center

I usually go to Bon Dances to see my friends play taiko, but Friday night they played earlier than expected and I missed their performance. Fortunately they performed again for Iida's grand re-opening.

• LEFT: This is my friend Kerri. She's been active with this taiko group for longer than I've known her, which is 6 years now, wow. She doesn't attend practice anymore but sometimes goes to teach the little ones.
  
• CENTER: I must be getting old. I remember when this boy was a little runt running around at their church's bon dance. Now he's practically all grown up. I like this shot because his expression shows the "zone" they get into, and the blur of his hands shows the rhythmic power of taiko.
  
• RIGHT: This is Dylan, one of the younger members in the performing group. The night before he was talking to our friend Nolan about why Nolan broke up with his girlfriend. It was the most precious conversation involving "differences" and metaphors using colors and cars. Nolan is 28 and single, Dylan is 10 and has a girlfriend.

• LEFT: These two boys performed earlier with the younger group and were waiting for the end of the performance to take a bow with the rest of the group.
  
• RIGHT: This is a Star Bulletin photographer. He got pretty close to the performers without really getting in anyone's way. Incase you were wondering, he's shooting with a Canon EOS-D30. His photo can be found here.