The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,200 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get... Continue Reading →
18A Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Extended Cut (with Audio Commentary Track)
Here’s a look at my new neighborhood and surroundings. The voiceover commentary track was recorded with my brand new Yeti USB microphone purchased from Other World Computing. I’ve added a bouncier soundtrack than the earlier versions, made some additional color corrections and added several new shots. Hope you enjoy. Be sure to watch in HD.... Continue Reading →
Suoi Tien Theme Park, Vietnam
Here's a video of Suoi Tien amusement park in Ho Chi Minh City. http://youtu.be/mKN-dlBlFso Free background music from JewelBeat.com
More x264 Comparisons
Here are some screen grabs of clips exported to QuickTime with the x264 Encoder, with and without 2.2 gamma added, then uploaded to YouTube. They were first converted to QuickTime files using ClipWrap, then transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec before importing to iMovie.
Café S Revisited
Café S is not only one of the most idyllic coffee shops in a city that boasts thousands of cafés, it must also be one of the most photographed by visitors. For my second video, I arrived early in the morning, when the owner had just switched on the steam jets around the artificial stream that winds... Continue Reading →
Café S
Café S in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City is one of the most elegant coffee shops I've visited in Vietnam. They serve food as well, and the Singapore noodles I tried were quite good. http://youtu.be/1BVnthcatT8
Washed-Out YouTube Videos?
Perhaps you've noticed that your videos on YouTube are a pale version of what you saw on your camcorder's LCD screen. Whether you're exporting your movies to QuickTime first or uploading directly from iMovie, the colors appear less saturated, blacks a dark gray. Below is a comparison between the original .MTS file and the same... Continue Reading →
Vietnam Winter 2011-2012
I just published the pictures of my last trip to Vietnam using Apple's iPhoto. For my sixth visit to the country, I travelled from Can Tho in the south on up to Hanoi. I'll be moving to Ho Chi Minh City in September. Download the PDF file here.
Buy Korean? No Way!
When I moved to Korea five years ago, I was impressed not only with how convenient everything was, I was also struck by how inexpensive everything - from food to transportation to medical expenses and the postal service were. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the cost of living in Busan is... Continue Reading →
Ulrich Seidl’s ‘Paradise: Love’ to Compete for Palme d’Or
I've been a huge fan of Ulrich Seidl ever since seeing the Austrian director's Import/Export, so when I learned that Paradise: Love will be competing at Cannes, my little heart started to race. Here's the synopsis: On the beaches of Kenya they're known as Sugar Mamas: European women to whom black beach boys offer sex... Continue Reading →
Xavier Dolan to Adapt Tom à la ferme
Xavier Dolan’s eagerly anticipated third film, Laurence Anyways, has not even been released yet (it hits theaters on May 18th), but the brilliant young Canadian director has already announced his decision to adapt a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom à la ferme. This marks the first time the director will adapt a script not... Continue Reading →
Xavier Dolan to Adapt Tom à la ferme
Xavier Dolan’s eagerly anticipated third film, Laurence Anyways, has not even been released yet (it hits theaters on May 18th), but the brilliant young Canadian director has already announced his decision to adapt a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom à la ferme. This marks the first time the director will adapt a script not... Continue Reading →
Xavier Dolan’s ‘Laurence Anyways’ to Premiere at Cannes
The amazingly gifted Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways has been invited to Cannes, to be screened in the Un Certain Regard selection. The director expressed disappointment his film won't be in competition, but how many 23-year-olds can boast of walking the Croisette three times in a row? The movie takes place in 1989. At... Continue Reading →
A New Set of Earphones
I read that Apple has invested millions designing a pair of unibody earbuds. What difference it will make remains to be seen, as the current set offered with their iPods are notoriously bad. A friend of mine showed me the new cans he'd picked up over the weekend - a pair of Bose AE2 headphones.... Continue Reading →
My Daily Routine
I finally went ahead and picked up the Panasonic TM900. I think it’s pretty obvious from the clips that if you shoot a lot of video, a camcorder is the way to go. When I first saw the camera, I was somewhat disappointed in its appearance - glossy black and silver plastic with tacky-looking decals... Continue Reading →
Vietnam Winter 2011-2012
Most of the photos here were taken in Can Tho, Saigon, and Hoi An, using my Canon Powershot S95. The quality of the photographs is much better than the video, but then again, that's what it was designed to do.
The Adventures of a Couch Potato in Vietnam
When I went to Vietnam in February 2011, I brought along my trusty iPod. For the first time in years, I was inspired to take photos again. The streets of Saigon were so vibrant and full of color, it was almost impossible not to take photographs. Belatedly, I discovered that my iPod also took video... Continue Reading →
Welcome Back!
It's been over a year since I've published anything at all about Korean cinema, so I thought I'd go ahead and create a new blog, this time with a focus on travel and photography. I'll be adding the old movie reviews in a couple of weeks (for anyone curious enough to check them out), and I... Continue Reading →