Monthly Archives: July 2006

The Senses

★ Posted on at 08:10 pm ★

Heh, this post is for self amusement.

I recently acquired the DVD for Saving Private Ryan. It’s one of my favourite movies, as I find that the story, style, effects are all very engaging. I first watched it in a cinema in Sunshine during the year 1999. I never knew what I was going to watch, but was asked to go. It was a mesmerising experience, and all the gore and gut wrenching scenes that make war so vile are superceded by the power of human sacrifice, knowing that those soldiers are doing something for a greater good. This is probably one of Steven Spielberg’s best movies, and the cast put in a memorable performance by bringing out the unique characteristics that make them special. The movie was also excellent from a technical perspective, with everything made to look and sound as real as it could be.

This is where digital surround sound comes in. I’m not too familiar with DTS or Dolby surround, but with good speakers and a good music decoder, you get a surreal sound experience. Visuals are engaging, but sounds are what you remember the most about something, like the swing of a lightsabre or TIE fighters flying by (one of the things so memorable about Star Wars are the sound effects, which until this day, still sound absolutely stunning). The bullets whizzing past and ricocheting off metal feels real and envelops your senses.

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Have also recently discovered FLAC encoding. The world has been captivated by the power of MP3s being able to capture CD quality music at relatively small file sizes. CD quality is real, but MP3 quality depends on the bit rate it was encoded in. 128kbps was the originally the best ratio for songs and storage (back in the days when hard drives were still around only 20GBs in size). I was quite contented with that quality, but when you upgrade your sound system, you can hear the difference between 128kbps and 192kbps encoded songs. The treble portion of the tune had clarity and sharpness. With FLAC encoding, it is a lossless encoding process, you get the full digital quality of the CD (provided the recording source is up to scratch to begin with). The difference is noticeable, as the textures of the instruments come out, you can hear their distinct and unique qualities individually.

In awe.

Starting July

★ Posted on at 12:34 pm ★

There is the obligatory start of month post, but quite surprisingly, there is a lack of the need to express at the moment.

I’d like to be able to spend more time in the nitty gritty of doing things and getting results as opposed to pondering about how I’d actually do these things. Heh, been taking lots of pictures, and just trying to figure out the little bits and pieces. Really ought to focus on a topic, get good at it, before moving on to the next. At times, I just try to experiment with too many things and ideas are all in a jumble.

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Nothing has changed so much in the past month. Still looking at lenses day in and day out. The World Cup is nearly ending. I also need to study for my exam which is only a month away. There is the side distraction of Sydney in the middle of the month. Anticipating the shots I can take there. Need to come up with a solution to not make beginner mistakes, as I have a tendency to setup my camera for night shots and forget to reset them for proper daylight shooting the next morning. Hence, pictures that have lost detail due to the fine grain from noise of higher ISO speeds.

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Set a few goals for the month. Room is finally much cleaner after 6 months looking like a junk pile. Trying to maintain a certain level of neatness so I actually have space to walk about in my room. Would like to cook a bit more. Tried out salt and pepper pork ribs from a recipe book I bought a while back. It’s one of those dishes I’ve enjoyed at restaurants, and I wanted to know what was inside them. Trying to figure out how to tenderise meat, but I think I just answered the question in the back of my head. Whamming it with the back of a cleaver should help a bit. Heh, if only I had time to experiment a little more with dishes. Next on the list of things to try is lemon chicken. I treat my recipe books like textbooks, with fluroscent coloured tabs sticking out of the pages on recipes I’d like to try out.

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A little tired from work and the weather. Work involves long hours sitting in front of a screen. Have the bad habit of squinting at the numbers on screen at times. Due to heavy levels of concentration, you just hold that position for hours and you can feel some of your muscles creaking after that. Exercise helps, but the cold weather hasn’t been conducive for brisk runs around the park.

Heh, just wishing for a quiet month ahead.